Clues #51-60
Clues of the Maze: Honest Faith - #51-60 51. Enthusiasm for the Person of Jesus The love of the believer to the Lord Jesus is intensely personal and enthusiastic. It overtops all other affections. His love, his sufferings, his perfections, his glories fill the heart and set it on fire. There is more force in the love of an actual living person than in subscription to any set of doctrines however important they may be. The courage of a leader has often produced deeds of daring which no philosophy could have demanded. Our glorious leader, Christ Jesus, inspires his followers with a burning passion, an all-consuming zeal, an irrepressible enthusiasm, which supplies all the energy which the noblest life can need. It is no small aid to our noblest ambition 52. Faith in the Life of Christ on Earth The more we examine the character of the Lord Jesus Christ, the more are we filled with admiration of it. In the gospels we have a fourfold photograph of his countenance, taken from different positions. Putting these together, or even meditating upon any one of them, we are charmed with its singular beauty. Nor is this at all remarkable, for almost every man in the world, believer or unbeliever, has acknowledged the singular excellence of the life of Christ. It is so original, so transcendent, so perfect, that all men, except certain blinded partisans, sworn to run-a-muck at all things holy, have bowed before its glory, and regarded it as the beau-idéal of perfect manhood. Now this is in Scripture set before us as an example, therefore it is imitable; and better still, it is set forth as the ordained pattern to which the believer is to be conformed are God's great work is done. To have a high ideal, to be assured that we can reach it, and to have a capable Helper, who will enable us to reach it,—this is to have a grand assistance towards a life of virtue. Faith in this Exemplar, who is also our Saviour, must minister strength in our life-battle. To aspire to such a perfect character, as the salvation which we most desire, is to be already saved in principle. It is a great comfort to be fired with an ambition to be like Jesus. Salvation from hell to heaven every selfish wretch may wish for; but to be saved from selfishness into the image of Christ is that which only the renewed in heart are pining for, and by that pining their salvation is assured.
53. Faith in the Principles of Christ's Life
It is observable that the self-denial of our Lord Jesus, which was complete and entire beyond all suspicion, proved to be for him the way to that pre-eminence of glory which he now enjoys. He is above all things because he stooped to the lowest and meanest state. It is his honour that he laid aside his glory, and bowed to the greatest shame and scorn. His glory in the hearts of his redeemed is this, that he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and even died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. No secondary motive deteriorated the compassionate self-sacrifice of Jesus; yet the abnegation of himself has turned to his boundless exaltation. Faith perceives this, and knowing that in this case one rule holds good for the Leader and the follower, it accepts all manner of service however menial, and consents with alacrity to a thorough self-emptying. To lose one's life for truth's sake and love's sake is according to Biblical philosophy to save it. The complete sinking cf self is the surest road to glory and immortality.
Herein is the soul prepared or all ill-weathers, and rescued from a passion which is of all things else the most weakening to the force of virtue.
54. Jesus newer doubts The limping of the leader is the lameness of the follower. It is a grand advantage to the life of faith that we follow Jesus who never doubted. In the whole story of his life, from his childhood to his death, there is no trace of doubting. All other men, the best, the firmest, the most learned, the most godly, have had their times of questioning, their dark hours of mistrust; but Jesus is never uncertain, never even hesitates. Knowing the Father, being wholly conformed to him, seeking only his glory, confiding fully in the eternal power, he never gropes in darkness, but goes serenely forward in a calm, unclouded light. In the hour of his enemies' triumph, and of his own passion, he is "exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," but never mistrustful, or dubious. In his mind there never lurked the slightest fear as to the ultimate success of his great enterprise, even though all his disciples forsook him and fled. To the soldier in battle, the confidence of his captain is worth many battalions. Looking up into the calmly resolute and expectant face of the commander-in-chief, the waverer grows steadfast, and even the most confident is further reassured. If the Christ had doubted, the common Christian might have despaired; but since he who bore the brunt of the battle never staggered, it is not ours to question. Had doubt been meritorious or useful, Jesus would not have been without it; had it been a sinless infirmity of manhood, Jesus would have suffered it; and had it been a process needful for growth and development, the Firstborn would have become a partaker in it with the rest of the family. Seeing that Jesus did not doubt, we feel no reverence for scepticism; we judge that it is not necessary to a perfect humanity, and we conclude that the less we have to do with it the better. Say you not so, good comrade?
55. Faith and its early Misgivings Our chronic condition of unbelief ends with our full confidence in God as he is revealed; but fits of it are apt to come upon us unawares; are they not the epilepsies of the mind? Belief in the Great Unseen is not natural to the animal part of us, which still craves something for the eyes by way of sign and wonder. It is a common thing for young believers to be weak upon their feet. The strangeness and greatness of his spiritual discoveries may cause this feeling in the spiritual youth; his memory of past sin, and his sense of present weakness, may also awe him into trembling. But let him hold on with a death-grip to his faith in God, and the darkness will pass from over his soul. Experience will also come to his aid; he will find it easier to trust as belief becomes a habit, and one day he will reach to that triumphant faith of afflicted Job, when he said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
56. Faith must be kept clear of Mixture
There is a tendency among those who are aiming at a noble life to mix up their faith in God with other matters. Anxious to enjoy every aid to faith, they are apt to buttress the Rock of Ages with timber from their own forests. This will prove to be a great source of confusion. If we trust God at all we must trust him altogether. The Highest Power includes every other, and therefore the notion of adding an auxiliary to the living God is as absurd as it is insulting. Do I trust in God to save me from sin in his own promised way? Then I am to believe that he will accomplish his promise whether I feel better or worse. If it be God who is believed, he cannot alter or falter, and therefore he should receive the same credit at one time as at another. True, we may have seriously declined, but the stress lies upon the faithfulness of God, and until that can be impugned, wherefore should we doubt? Conceive that the purpose is to be achieved by two forces, and then our confidence in one may well vary with the condition of the other: but if the design be in the hands of One Power alone, then a diminution of confidence cannot be justified, unless the One Power manifests signs of decay. Faith in God must be unadulterated. Even holy anxiety and watchfulness must not be allowed to shift the ground of our trust. We must lean hard, and lean wholly upon Him who is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, and whose office it is to save his people from their sins.
57. The Believer a Missionary
He who has believed in Jesus for himself will be hopeful for his fellows. This hopefulness is a great assistance in doing good. Many have failed to save others because they had no faith in the possibility of saving them. A genuine Christian despairs of no man since he has found grace himself. The Word which had power with his own mind may well enough influence others: hence he would attempt to convert the Pope or the Grand Turk if he had the opportunity; and, failing these, he sets to work upon the first who offer themselves. A living faith is a propagating faith. If thou hast no concern for the soul of thy neighbour, it is time that thou hadst a fear as to thine own soul.
58. Faith must not ferment into Fancy
God is to be trusted for what he is, and not for what he is not. We may confidently expect him to act according to his nature, but never contrary to it. To dream that God will do this and that because we wish that he would, is not faith but fanaticism. Faith can only stand upon truth. We may be sure that God will so act as to honour his own justice, mercy, wisdom, power—in a word, so as to be himself. Beyond all doubt, he will fulfil his promises; and when faith grasps a promise, she is on sure ground. To believe that God will give us what he has never promised to give, is mere dreaming. Faith without a promise implied or revealed is folly. Yea, though our trust should cry itself hoarse in prayer, it would be none the less a vain dotard if it had no word of God to warrant it. Happily, the promises and unveilings of Scripture are ample for every real emergency; but when unrestrained credence catches at every whim of its own crazy imagination, and thinks to see it realized, the disappointment is not to be wondered at. It is ours to believe the sure things of God's revelation, but we are not to waste a grain of precious reliance upon anything outside of that circle.
59. Advanced Thought
We none of us as yet know all that God may cause us to learn from his Word. We have waded into the shallows of that great sea; but oh, the depths! We are to grow in heavenly knowledge. Possibly one generation may advance upon another in such knowledge. But some growths are suspicious, especially such as weaken faith. It is certain that from the apostolic period to the dark ages, if the church advanced at all it was in a backward direction. Religious thought made progress in a wretched fashion away from truth for several centuries. It is more than possible that modern thought is starting on another such progressive period.
Those who are infatuated with novelties may make a dogma out of a certain divine's statement that "More light is yet to break from the Word"; but we, without denying it, take leave to question the common interpretation of the prophecy. If it be meant that apostles, confessors, and martyrs did not know the meaning of God's revelation; that holy men of former years were ignoramuses compared with our present professors; and that Puritans and the like are all to be discarded because new lamps have eclipsed the old light—then we believe the statement to be one great, broad, pestilent lie. God has not left these nineteen centuries without his grace. He has not tantalized the ages with a Bible which can only be opened up by a succession of Germans with big pipes. We have measured the boasters who are the apostles of "modern thought," and we are slow to admit that the truth of the gospel was purposely involved in obscurity that their vast intellects might in due time develop it. Under their management our churches are famishing, and religion is falling into contempt; and yet we must daily wait at the posts of their doors, while their changeful oracles reveal to us the progressive theology.
Bah! We shall go on feeding men with the bread of heaven, while these pretenders are proving that sawdust is the true stuffing for the human doll.
60. Faith must be for every Day
God is one. God's works and ways are one. His laws for earth are in the same statute-book as those for heaven. The natural as God made it is not in conflict with the spiritual. The line between things secular and sacred is imaginary and mischievous. We believe God for time as well as for eternity, for earth as well as for heaven, for the body as well as for the soul. Far be it from any honest man to confine his faith in God to certain mysterious and impalpable concerns, and doubt him when it comes to his immediate business, and the trials of every-day life. "We are taught by our Great Master to pray to the heavenly Father, "Thy kingdom come;" and the same prayer includes the petition, "Give us this day our daily bread." To confide to heaven the greater cares, and leave the less to unbelief, would be as unwise as to commit the door of the house to a watchman, but expressly to exempt an open window from his oversight. What is little? What is trifling? There exists no such thing to a wise man anxious to be always right. No, we must have a present, house-keeping, shop-keeping, table-furnishing faith; for if our mainstay be only available on great occasions, we may be utterly undone by the ills to which it is inapplicable. "The just shall live by faith." Faith is not a go-to-meeting coat for us; but an every-day suit. Comprehensive, universal, and constant in operation, it is a principle which those always require who are perpetually in danger, constantly in need. As the cherubic sword turned every way to keep the gate of Eden, so does faith guard the soul from the advance of enemies, let them come from what point of the compass they may.