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Edwin Raymond Anderson
Jesus Christ must be the central and determining fac tor. Old-fashioned or not, popular or not, it must be declared that He is the absolute and final answer. All issues of life revolve about the acceptance or rejection of His Person and work. Houses without homes, in the final analysis, but tes tify to a neglected and rejected Saviour. Houses trans formed into homes, in the final analysis, but testify to an accepted Saviour, who has been welcomed and crowned as the Center of the household, the honored Guest, not merely for a wall motto, but for a continual, precious, abiding reality! There is a very striking word in the fifth chapter of the Gospel according to Mark, in connection with the story of the maniac of Gadara, who, groveling in twist ed rage amongst the gloomy tombs, crying in despair, and cutting himself to ribbons with stones, in the fury of his tormented mind, had his terrifying abode in the lonely back hills. You know the story of the “dark pattern” and the “light that broke through.” This wretched creature met Jesus, who healed him, restored him, won him back unto His own precious Person. And what was the first word that Jesus said to that delivered soul? “Jesus . . . saith unto him, Go home” (v. 19). “Go home” ! What a word to say to him who had no home, whose home was lost in the far reaches of van ished memory! And what a word to many in this day, who have no true home, though they may possess an impressive mansion of a house! It is only Jesus who could thus speak, for it is only Jesus who can truly make a home. Satan cannot, and will never, use that ex pression, for he is in the business of breaking down homes into houses. Man of himself can never say it, for he has not the power for the required transforma tion. ’Tis only our blessed Jesus who can send a man, a woman, a boy or a girl, back to a home, who can dispel the coldness and bitterness of a house, trans forming it unto the “Calvary warmth” of a home in which He is the Center. It is. tragic that our nation is continually failing to see this truth, even in the face of mounting crime bills and increased social legislation. . We are trying to "set the house in order." but it is a pitiful patchwork, for
HILE WE are concerned about the housing shortage that plagues our national life and welfare, it is well to remind ourselves that America faces a plague of deeper import—a Home Shortage! For while we have those, who, though having no proper houses to dwell in, yet through faith in Christ Jesus, have made out of present straightened conditions a home wherein love doth sweetly reign, and where the grace of the Lord Jesus is fully accepted and acknowledged, there are alas! far too many, who, though dwelling in sumptuous halls, are verily homeless. They are without Christ in the heart and life, and their dwell ings are but scenes of continual strife and bitterness. Houses without homes are tragic, accounting for much in the sad way of crime and delinquency. The world is continually confusing the House with the Home, and thinking that the one will prove suffi cient for the other. “A roof over the head” and “a fire on the hearth” are not the end of the matter, for the heart that dwells in the house may be guilty and sin ful, standing “ condemned cold” before the presence of God’s holiness and righteousness. Many a domestic strife, fraught with perilous consequences, has come out of stately mansions proudly set atop green rolling hills; and spiritual defection, moral decay and eternal condemnation are not prevented by luxurious living. On the other hand, some of the “saintliest of saints” have come from environments which have been tagged by social workers as crime-breeding centers. “Songs in the night” have wafted their praise unto a Heavenly Father and a gracious Son from dilapidated hovels bor dering on the city fringes. The world is always wrong in this matter; this is proven by the manner in which it is continually chat tering about education and environment. Some of the lowest renegades have come from the highest houses, and some of the highest citizens have come from the lowliest of surroundings. Those who know of the truest and best will never speak of environment and educa tion, but rather of Jesus Christ and the regeneration of heart and life that is accomplished by acceptance of His offering of crucified blood atop Calvary’s agonizing brow. Here, as in every other matter of living, the Lord
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MARCH, 1947
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