of God, and tell Him you want the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Saviour of your soul. If you will do this and mean it, you’ll be a child of God instantly for God has so promised (John 3:16). Then you can read on (1 Tim. 4:13). The Premise Stated . . . The basis of the whole matter of Christian conduct is this, that as Christians we just don’t belong to ourselves any more. When by faith we received the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, not only did He become ours, but we became His— entirely and completely (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). Whereas we have been slaves to sin, Satan and unrighteousness, we are now re deemed by the precious, priceless blood of the Son of God (1 Pet. 1:18, 19). This is the reason why Christ desires to di rect our lives; we’re His; we belong to Him! I want us to understand this thoroughly, for here is the foundation of New Testament teaching concerning the Chris tian life. We belong to Christ, body, soul and spirit (1 Thess. 6:23). Our body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Our life is no longer ours to direct or misdirect, but is to be guided by the omniscience of the risen, living, loving Lord Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:21). What an immense difference it makes when we understand just how God views this matter! Now it’s not our job to de cide the questions that arise in our lives. We don’t have to worry or debate about our participation in this or that. All decisions are now referred to Christ. For it’s no more a ques tion as to what pleases us, but will it please Him? It’s not our success that matters, but His glory. And He is wonderfully able to guide us (Col. 2:3). Who in Heaven or earth is better able to direct us to make our lives truly count for Him? Cer tainly not you—or I. You see, this is one of the things Christ rose from the dead to accomplish. Just as He guided the lives of His twelve dis ciples while He was here upon the earth, so He desires now to direct our lives from the vantage point of Heaven’s clear at mosphere. It is just senseless folly on our part not to allow ;Him to do so. I’m very anxious that you should get this straight right from the very start. Before we met Christ, we didn’t amount to a cipher with the rim knocked off. We were dead in tres passes and sins (Eph. 2:1-6). We were under the condemna tion of a just God, and were awaiting the day of execution. We were without hope in the world (Eph. 2:11, 12). In short, we were nothing at all. It isn’t a very encouraging picture, is it? But it’s God’s solemn truth. Then one day we came to know that Jesus Christ died for us, and as we received Him as our Saviour, we were fully par doned of all our sins, and given the immeasurable gift of life eternal (John 5:24). We were clothed in shining garments of perfect righteousness and heartily welcomed into the family of God (Rom. 8:14-17). We were given a responsible position and made heirs of wealth incalculable. Tell me, my friend, does the Lord Jesus Christ have any just claim on your life? Too many young people take entirely the wrong attitude toward the Christian life. They see it only as an endless se ries of “don’ts.” But this is just the opposite of the facts. The Christian life is not “ don’t” but “ do”—not negative, but posi tive. It’s not prohibition, but glorious adventure with Christ. It’s not empty; it’s full. It’s outliving the inliving Christ, and it’s wonderful! Do you begin to get the idea? Christ Jesus wants to answer all your problems. In your life He desires to be the center and the circumference (Phil. 3:7-10). In your thinking He covets the place of the great Ideal. He wants to be all in all to you (Col. 3:1-4). And all this is His rightful place. Your life be longs to Him. He earnestly desires for you to understand this, and to make Him the Director (John 15:16). Have you? Or if not, will you? The problems of young people suddenly dwindle into noth ing at all when we recognize this one great and all-important fact. Christ has redeemed us; we are now His; and our ex alted task in life is to follow His blessed will. Consequently, everything in our life must subordinate to this one pur pose. - Pago1Twelve
Bom-Agcdner's Main lob . . . The Christian’s principal job in life is to be a Christian; all else is secondary. Why, the very word Christian means “ Christ-Man” (Phil. 1:21). God desires to show the world the excellencies of His Son through us. That’s the reason He has left us in an antagonistic world. Our lives are to glorify Christ every day (1 Cor. 6:19, 20). If we fail in this, we’re failing in everything, and I mean everything. Please understand that our job in life is more than warm ing a seat in a church or leading a young people’s meeting once in a blue moon. We have a battle to win, a race to be won, a faith to be kept (2 Tim. 4:7, 8). Christianity is ac tive, not passive. It’s expression, not repression. It’s doing, not don’t-ing. Some of God’s children get into trouble simply because they’re idle. A mule who’s interested in pulling well won’t either kick, run away, or stop to munch daisies. Chris tians should take a lesson from the mule. New Testament standards all take the positive view in re lation to young people’s problems (1 Cor. 10:31). That is, they judge the elements in the Christian life not only on the basis of the harm they do, but will they do any good? You see it’s not, “ Can I do this or that and still be a Christian?” but rather, “Will participation in this pleasure or that amuse ment deepen my love for Christ, and enlarge my testimony for Him (Col. 3:17)?” This is the proper attitude. We have only one life to live, and we must pack every day to the full with joyful service for Christ. We’ll never pass this way again. We must make every opportunity count (2 Tim. 4:2). Here’s the thing: God has a plan, a heavenly blueprint for the life of every child of His. Our interests should center in tljis plan and its execution. I tell you, the questions about pleasures and amusements will seem picayunish when we catch a vision of our part in the divine task which God is ac complishing today. While a good deal of our activity for Christ quite natural ly centers in and about the church, it is not confined there. Christ desires to be our Companion from Monday to Satur day as well as all day Sunday (Matt. 28:19, 20). He wants to be at our side in our school or work. He wants to be the honored Guest in our homes, go with us in our fun and pleas ures, meet all of our friends. He wants to bless and beautify the labor of our minds and hands. In other words, this job of witnessing for Christ is a steady, lifetime job (Acts 1:8). Don’t think that you can be a born-again Christian on just a part-time basis. Living for Christ calls for every ounce of your energy, every beat of your heart (Rom. 12:1, 2). It just can’t be: “Well, I’ll do all that I want to do; then, if there’s any time left, I’ll serve Christ.” This is suicide so far as suc cess goes in our labor for God. We’re called to be full-time ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20). Ours is the greatest job in the world. We must put into it all we’ve got. Nor does this mean that we should all be missionaries, preachers or Christian workers. If God wants us in this type of service, He’ll make it known. But most certainly we’re all full-time workers whether we’re students, street sweepers or bank presidents. And our privilege is to witness for our Lord everywhere we go (Mark 16:20). To the salesman who calls at the door, to the service station man who fills our gas tank, to the pal who sits next to us in school—to everyone we meet. And far from being drudgery or irksome toil, it’s glorious ad venture as we watch what wonders and miracles our Christ will do in other hearts and lives, and as we see the guaran teed Word of God accomplishing its purpose (Isa. 55:11). Say, we won’t really worry about a lot of little petty things if we’re head over heels in this greatest task of time and eter nity, will we? We’ll be too busy endeavoring to make the moments count for Christ. We’ll be sowing the seed which is the Word of God. We’ll be cultivating it with additional contacts and wa tering it by our prayers. And we just won’t have either time or inclination to bother about things of lesser importance. Isn’t that right? (The second message on this subject by Dr. Orr will ap pear in a later issue.) T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
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