KNOWING TO DO GOOD A Sunday school teacher was con cerned about one of her pupils who was not attending regularly. When asked why, the little girl responded, “Well, teacher, I guess it’s because I already know how to be better than I am.” What an honest and human an swer. We know how to be better than we are, but what do we do about it? Self-improvement, spiritually, is folly, when we consider our own strength. Only God can give us the ability through the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. THE CHRISTIAN'S MENAGERIE A Christian man told of the many responsibilities he had that caused him always to be exhausted. He re ported that he had to tame two fal cons, that he had two hares to keep from running away, two hawks to manage, a serpent to confine and a lion to chain. In addition, his work also entailed a sick man to tend and to wait upon constantly. A friend asked him where all of these things were kept since he had only a little home. He smiled and replied, “Well, the two falcons to tame are my eyes. They’re constantly wandering and see ing things they ought not to look at. The two hares that keep running away are my feet that wander into places where I would not have them go. The two hawks to manage are my hands which tend to grasp at things they should never hold. The serpent I have to confine and the lion I have to chain is my tongue which always seems to be an unruly evil. And the sick man to tend and to wait upon is my whole body." What an interesting picture and a difficult menagerie. E v e r y Christian has a similar problem. Yet, thank God, the Holy Spirit does give us the power to overcome the trials and testing of this life. For greater is He, the Holy Spirit, that is in us, than he, Satan, that is in the world. * * * It is more blessed to walk in the dark and hold hard to a promise of God, than to trust in the light of the brightest day that ever dawned. 12
Let us ask ourselves, “In what am I interested?” Is it position, material things, price of office, social status? Are we interested in the Lord, or only in what we can get from Him? One can humanly understand the bitterness of the disciples when they discovered that they were not going to get material blessings from follow ing Him. In actuality, they were called upon to give their lives for Him. They were to be scattered as lambs among wolves. It may be that this will be our lot, too. If we are only seeking what we can get from the Lord Jesus to satisfy our own selfish desires, we too may be very disap pointed and become very bitter. May be this is the picture of your heart today. Perhaps you have become very bitter because things have not been going your way. Ask yourself this question, “What have I been seeking from the Lord?” Has your one desire been to make Him preeminent? Much of our own frustration really comes as a result of selfishness. We are not, first of all, delighting in the Lord. And until we do that, He can not give us the desires of our heart. Put Him first in your life and then, no matter what may be your experi ence, you can rest in Him. In this way we can joyfully join the hymn writer in singing: Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my life, my soul, my all.
Dr. LouisT. Talbot (left), Biola Chancellor, withDr. Ralph L. Kelper, editorial researchdirector of the Evangelical Foundation, Philadelphia, Pensylvania.
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