Individual Responsibility Evangelist Charles H. Harrington Reminds Us That It Means Something to be Christians
is danger in these days ig th ing s” when we are ig of crowds, and large nces, of losing sight of
we are to h ear God’s messages we must be in tune. Jesus, when He received th e answer to His prayer, in J o h n '12, “heard God”— some said it thundered, others th a t an angel spoke to Him, bu t He heard the Voice, because He was in tune. May it be ours to h ear when God speaks. But perhaps the most im portant of all is th e fact th a t we must account for our time. W hat are we doing? We have tim e for everything b u t Bible reading and prayer, and yet these are th e g reat est assets of th e Christian life. The men th a t are fired w ith a passion for souls are Bible readers, and spend much tim e in prayer. God thought tim e so precious th a t He gave It to us in h ea rt beats, and th e marvel of it is th a t our prayers are h eard and answered, and the reason must be be cause th e Cross is above th e Mercy Seat. The g reatest asset in th e life of Jesus was prayer, and when I th ink about it, what pictures come to my mind. I see th e word of Ezekiel 22:30, “ I sought for a man among them—• * * th a t would stand in th e gap,” and then, th ere comes the picture of Abraham standing in th e gap for Lot, Gen. 18: 22-30. Moses -standing in th e gap for Israel, “Yet now if thou w ilt forgive th eir sin— ;if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou h ast w rit te n ,” Ex. 32:32. Then Jesu s th e G reat “Gap-Stander,” John 17. W hat sug gestions, w hat pictures they bring. Thank God we may be gap-standers. Many a m other’s boy has been brought back home from the dead, into sp irit u al life through prayer—-those people out th e re dead in trespasses and sins. But, alas, we are too busy picking blackberries by the road side. Too busy running afte r religious quacks
th e individual and his terrific responsi bility. I have come to believe th a t God is not concerned w ith th e crowd. He is w ith th e individual, and we should be w illing to face our responsibility, for whether we will or not, some day we must. Romans 14:12, “So th en everyone of us shall give account of himself to God.” We may shun th e responsibility in th e work of evangelism for different reasons, but, nakedly bare as to charac ter, we will stand before God. It is a m ighty im po rtan t th ing to be living, and Matthew 13:30 tells us why. Indeed, some may th ink th a t Heaven, and the angels, are concerned about our social position, our wealth, our cu ltu re; bu t these will only be a memory, and the angel will not come and look for our record on the tomb stone. It is well to stop and think. Yes, th ink hard, th a t we must give an ac count to God, first for our S igh t: The first entrance of sin, into th e human fam ily was th rough eye sight. Gen. 3:6, “When th e woman saw th a t the tree was good for food,” and Achan confessed to Joshua, “When I saw ,” Joshua 7 :21 ; and if th ere should be pictures on th e walls of mem ory, th a t were b etter blotted out, do not blame any one bu t yourself. No picture is th ere' b u t th a t, some tim e or other, you looked at it. We must give an account to God for our H earing: “Take heed therefo re how ye h ear,” Luke 8:18. We do not often do It, bu t it would be well to th ank God for the blessing of hearing, and if
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