T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
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anxiety, every pleasure, every joy, He is in perfect sympathy w ith us. There is nothing concerns us th a t does not concern Him. The very h airs of our heads are all numbered, not counted merely. Every enemy of m ine is His, every friend of m ine is His. Every fight I have is His, every qu arrel is His. There is nothing I have th a t does h o t concern Him. He is in terested in every th ing th a t in terests me. He is annoyed w ith everything th a t annoys me. I am as the apple of H is eye. T hink of it. How quickly th e eyelid closes when danger is near and protects the eye. He is ju st as w atchful and quick in pro tecting me. W hat a F riend ! No won der we sing, “The best friend to have is Jesu s." Everyone loves to dwell on th is side of th is element, b u t th ere is ano ther side to it. It is m u tual tenderness. Every in te rest of H is is mine too. Every qu arrel He has is mine. Every enemy of H is is mine. Yet how many th e re are who claim to be friends of H is and yet are warm , close friends of some who would try to rob Christ of H is crown and covenant by denying His deity and divinity. His enem ies are m ine if I am tru ly His friend. We read, “ If th ere come any unto you, and bring no t th is doctrine, receive him no t into your house, n eith er bid him God speed, for he th a t biddeth him God speed is par ta k e r of H is evil deeds.” How many th ere are who try to be friends of Christ and still rem ain friends of the world. I t can’t be, for friend ship w ith the world is enm ity against God and if we are friends of the world we are enemies, not friends. If we are really friends of Jesus, th e world will h ate us as it hated Him. The world loves its own. Don’t let us try to de ceive ourselves or deceive Him. We are H is friends if we do whatsoever He commands us. He tells us to come out from among them and be separate and
people who th in k th a t they can fool Christ easier th a n any hum an being. They would no t attem p t to bluff th e ir friends th e way they do Christ. Sup posing some one called him self your friend and yet was very friendly w ith very m alignant enemies of yours, would you tru s t him? Certainly not. And yet th e re are many today who say they tru s t Christ and are friends of H is and are hobnobbing w ith th e world— His ene mies. They whose hands are red w ith His blood, expect th e Lord Jesus to tru s t them . Do you th in k He is a fool? Has He not as much sense as you? Would you be deceived by any such friendship? Do you th in k He is? He tru sts His tru e friends w ith H is home, H is salvation, etern al life, His Gospel". Do you th in k He doesn’t appreciate the value of these things enough to be care ful whom He tru sts w ith them ? Oh, le t us give Christ credit for having as much sense, a t least, as we have. If He cannot tru s t us, we may tru s t Him all we please and profess to be His friends, bu t we’re only deceiving our selves, no t him or our friends. “They who tru s t Him fully, find Him fully tru e .” Have we tru ste d Him for salva tion? Are we tru stin g H im daily? Does He tru s t us? Then we are His friends. F riend sh ip Implies Sympathy. The th ird essential element in friend ship is tenderness or sympathy. It is h ard to define th is element. While we cannot define it, we all know w h at it is because we have felt it. Why did we ru n quicker to our m other when we were children th a n to our fath er? It wasn’t because fath e r loved us less th an mother. I t was because m other had more sympathy and could feel for us and soothe our sorrow. Isn’t it ju st this very th ing th a t makes tru e friends? So it is w ith Christ. He is so tend er and sympathetic. He can wipe away our tears and com fort our h ea rts as no other one can. Every sorrow we have, every burden we bear, every care, every
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