September 1931
387
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
(Crumbsfrom THE KING’S TABLE . . . B y TH E ED ITOR A Specialty of Possession 0 . ’ uch phrases as “my sheep,”
earnestness of purpose; but Simon Stylites had no busi ness to be standing there on the top of his broken pillar. He should have been down on the solid earth preaching the gospel of the grace of God, caring for the poor and the wronged, going about doing good, and living a sweet, wholesome life. One is not to invent forms of self- denial which the Master has never approved. One’s duty is to go straight on—doing the work and discharging the trust imposed by Christ, and manfully and patiently meet
‘he calleth his own sheep by name,” “my Father who gave them me,” you have been bought with a price” are full of tenderness and assurance. What a comfort it is to know that you are the special object of divine love and care because you are the special possession of the Lord Jesus Christ! I have married many couples.
ing whatever of inconvenience or loss or sorrow or suffering may, in consequence, fall in the way. BE What Is Failure? i ecently , a friend of mine, as they say, “lost every thing.” Everything? He still has a happy home, a circle of loving children, a good con science, a spo tless reputation, self-respect, unwavering faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the hope of an eternity with God. What, then, has he lost ? A little yellow dust, the accumulation of a lifetime of labor, which sooner or later must slip through his fingers and be gone. A loss like this, in any event, is a mere ques
I have heard the young husband introduce his new w ife to a friend, saying, “This is my wife.” How proud he is of his new possession! I have seen a young mother start out for a morning’s walk in the park with her new baby. She meets an old friend. Back go the b eau tifu l hem stitched things presented by sis ters and cousins and aunts, and she points to the little bundle of sweetness and says, “My baby.” In the midst of the darkness of this hour, we know One to whom we have been presented by His Father, and who thought so much of His Father’s gift that He paid a tremendous price to redeem us from the curse of
“Let Us Sing unto the Lord” ( P sa . 95:1)
He smiles in every little flower, The restless sea proclaims His power; His loving care is sung by bird, In raging storm His voice is heard; The moon imbued in yellow sky, His tender love doth magnify; The myriad stars that shine above, And flaming sun, tell of His love; In life, in death, in mystic tone He ever speaks unto His own.
■ —H arriet E leanor J ones .
tion of time. The man who loses money is, after all, only beaten back on the picket line, for the true conflict of life is on a much larger and more momentous scale. Failure? Bankruptcy? “Lost everything” ? Oh, no! If my friend had lost home, character, self-respect, and faith in God, and had kept his yellow dust, that would have been failure indeed; that would have been bank ruptcy and an irreparable loss. Murmurings and Disputings / / T h en god says , “D o all things without murmurings V jL | and disputings,” He puts His finger upon the two tempers which most frequently mar and ruin Chris tian service. How often we go to the work of salvation with earnestness and enthusiasm, but our enterprise is nipped and frozen at the heart! We set about it with “murmurings.” The wheels are not working smoothly in “the oil of joy.” They grate and grind in the grit of a hard reluctance. There is a half backward pull in our movements, and our goings do not attain to a splendid and irresistible crusade. I am convinced that reluctance in service can be traced to want of praise in our prayers. Men take to duties sadly because they do not sing enough in the presence of their Lord. The murmur in labor is born of the murmur in prayer. We come to our God with our complaints and with the sad story of our surg ing needs. But we do not come often enough with songs and with glad rehearsals of our benefits in “the light of
sin. The Redeemer sits up yonder on the right hand of God the Father with as much love for us and interest in us as when He hung upon the cross. He knows all about our troubles. He knows our heartaches. He knows our sorrow for sin. He knows our financial straits. He knows about the unkindness and injustice of brethren. He knows the end from the beginning. He will accom plish His purpose and will make all things to work to gether for good. Our needs will all be supplied according to His riches in glory. Let us rejoice that He has more invested in us than we have in Him. He shall not fail! Legitímate Suffering for Christ C hr ist did not run into needless anguish, although He never turned aside from that which duty re quired Him to meet. A man is not to make a mar tyr of himself for the sake of the sufferings incident to martyrdom. He is not to make himself needlessly ob noxious for the sake of having an opportunity to receive buffets and reproaches and scorn. He is not to court pains which need not to be borne, or to undertake ser vices which are of no consequence when rendered, in order to acquire discipline through the hardness and sev erity of them. Simon Stylites, standing on the top of his broken pillar, starving, thirsting, freezing, aching to death, shows wonderful firmness of will, much power of patient endurance, admirable devotion, sincerity, and
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