King's Business - 1920-04

379

T HE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S though worrying is very natural, it is just as senseless and just as sinful as it is natural. It is a thrust at the heart of God. It is a vote of want of confi­ dence in His Government. The man or woman who is free from care is the happy, capable, and efficient man or woman. Worry saps our vital­ ity and robs us of our peace, our poise and our power. Perfect peace is the believer’s permanent portion. Con­ stant care about things makes dwarf Christians. In the interpretation of the parable of the Sower, Jesus said that the thorny ground was the heart where the cares of this life choked the good seed of the Word and prevented it from attaining full development. It is after things to eat and wear, etc., that the people of the world feverishly scramble, but with the believer it should not be so. Our Father knows what we need and has promised to sup­ ply it. (Phil. 4:19.) Can we not trust Him who paints the lilies and feeds the birds? A Picture of Peace Two artists agreed to paint pictures which would portray their respective conceptions of peace. The first painted a calm little pond, surrounded by woods and open plain. There was no sign of life in the picture, not even the indi­ cation that a breath of air was stirring. The other artist painted the scene of a raging, roaring waterfall. A branch of an elm tree hung out over the precipice, close to where the water leaped from the river bed to make its long drop. Suspended from the branch of the tree, and very near the water, was the nest 'of an oriole. Here sat a mother-bird upon some eggs, in perfect peace amid the rush and roar of the falling water. This latter picture represents true peace; the other depicts not peace but stagnation. So may we, in the midst of life’s stormy sea, know perfect peace always, if Christ, Who commanded the

turbulent winds and the angry water to be muzzled, is our Pilot. “ At the heart of the cyclone tearing the sky, And flinging the clouds, and towers by, Is a place of central calm. So here in the roar of mortal things, I have a place where my spibit sings, In the hollow of God’s palm.” Ms Ms KEEP ON SOWING A Christian, travelling in a steamboat, distributed tracts. While they were j taken and read by many, a gentleman took one, and folding it up, cut it with his penknife into small pieces; then holding it up in derision, threw it away. One piece adhered to his coat; he picked it off, and, looking at it, saw only the word “ God.” He turned it over; on the. other side, “ Eternity.” They stood out as living words before him. “ God”— “ Eternity.” He went to the bar, called for brandy to drink to drive them away, • but in vain. Then to the gambling- table, to social intercourse and conver­ sation; but those solemn words haunted him wherever he went, until he was brought a penitent to the feet of Jesus. What an encouragement to the Chris­ tian traveller to sow seed by the way- side! MS 'Mk ONE HUNDRED UIARS An evangelist who was conducting nightly services announced that on the following evening he would speak on the subject of “ Liars.” He advised his hearers to read in advance the seven­ teenth chapter of Mark. The next night he arose and said, “ I am going to preach on ‘Liars’ tonight and I would like to know how many read the chapter I suggested.” A hundred hands were upraised. “Now,” he said, “ you are the very persons I want to talk to— there isn’t any seventeenth chapter of Mark.”

Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker