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THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
The experience of Christians unfortu nately is too often the reverse of Chris tian experience. SUNDAY, March 7. 1 John 4:7-11. Loving One Another. As to creed the confession of an in carnate Christ is fundamental. It is the test as to whether spirits are from above or beneath. As to conduct brotherly love is the mark of life di vine. The confession of Christ as hav ing come in the flesh determines the character of spirits. The practice of love determines the character of men. Our relationship to one another is em phasized throughout the New Testa ment, beginning with the eleventh com mandment, John 13:34. We are to use hospitality one to another, to, confess our faults one to another, to bear one another’s burdens, to provoke one an other to good works, to comfort one another and to esteem one another bet ter than ourselves. Phil. 2:1-4. All this is the result of love. MONDAY, March 8. 1 John 4:11-21. Love Made Perfect. The word “ perfect” is found in verses 12, 17 and 18. Love can only become perfect by communication and reciprocation. When one’s love for an other is returned it is perfect within its own circle. The love of God, shed abroad in the believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit, finds its perfection first in its response to God’s love and then in self-sacrificing service to others. God’s love can only be manifested to the world through human lives dominated by it and becoming its medium of com munication. The Philadelphian test of brotherly love is the distinguishing mark of Christianity. TUESDAY, March 9. 1 John 3:13-18. Love Demonstrated. Love for Christian people because they are Christian is evidence of regen-
of His endurance and victory. More over He showed supreme confidence in Him that judgeth righteously. No mat ter what might happen to Him, He knew that God was faithful. In these respects believers are to follow their Divine Mastefr. FRIDAY, March 5. 1 Pet. 3:8-17. The Dignity of Patience. The secret of the ideal life is inti mated in vs. 17 in its reference to the will of God. God’s will includes every thing either by permission or decree. The child of God does not recognize second causes. “ The devil may bring but God sends.” . Well doing is always God’s will no matter what the conse quences may be. Sorrow and suffering in the will of God are better than hap piness outside that will. We glory in tribulation because it develops patience, Rom. 5:3, and when patience has done its perfect work, we are ripe for heaven. If this is the last lesson that we learn on earth, it is perhaps the hardest and the highest. We vindicate our succes sion in the line of sainthood by follow ing them who through faith and pa tience inherit the promises. SATURDAY, March 6. 1 Pet. 4:1-11. The Ideal Christian Life. The ideal Christian life is one of holiness and separation from sin. The first verse presents the negative side! The idea is that when we accept and appropriate the sufferings of our Lord we become so identified with Him that the power of sin is broken and its career brought to an end. Christ’s victory also becomes ours, Rom. 6:1-11, and in His death, we have died to sin. Peter and Paul are a unit in associating sanctifi cation with the sufferings of Christ. Christians are to arm themselves with this thought of perfect victory over sin in order that they may live unto God.
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