01.51. Excerpt14 - The Christian
Excerpt14 - The Christian
The self-centered suffer when others
disappoint them.
The Christ-centered suffer when they
disappoint others. Better to have a hard will and a soft heart,
than to have a soft will and a hard heart. We do not learn a thing merely by committing
it to memory.
We learn solely by experiencing it. Christ has not conquered my affections if He
has to compete for my attention. Cleverness will enable a man
to make a sermon.
Only compassion
will make him a soul winner. The Christian who has the smile of God needs
no status symbols. Who we are, whom we know, and what we
know does not interest the world.
What we are and what we do does. Children are afraid to walk in the dark.
Adults are afraid to walk in the Light. A statement does not have to be profound to be
important. "To obey is better than sacrifice,"
but not an escape from it. The infant Christian prays, "Bless me."
The mature Christian Prays,
"Make me a blessing." It seems that we have substituted contributions
to God for sacrifice for Him. What possessions a man has are not too
important.
What possesses a man is.
Possessions become obstructions
to spiritual expansion when we set our
affections on them. One way to live the Christian life is to be sure
you don’t live it as other people do. The pursuit of holiness must outreach all our
other desires. I refuse to let men flatter me
or flatten me. It is God who worketh in us so that we may
work out our own salvation. The world is unimpressed with a man who has
all his "dispensations" correct
but his disposition all wrong. "Tears" are a ministry untaught, unsought
and unreachable. "Think twice before you speak once."
Think three times, and you may not speak at
all. The Christian must say "no" to the whole world
system
which is but damnation frosted with the glitter
of success
and illuminated with scientific luster.
He remembers that it is worm-eaten with
depravity
and has God’s sentence of death upon it. The Christian life is more than emotion,
but it is not without emotion. There is a cost in discipleship--
God has no basement-bargain blessings. You cannot draw a straight line with a crooked
ruler. Truth fears no exposure.
"The Baptism" is not an event, but an advent. God asks the best we have
Because He gave the Best He had. We can give God much: our problems, our
griefs, our praises--
but we cannot give Him advice. May we grow old slowly.
May we grow wise quickly. The man God uses is the man the world, and
often the church, abuses. The Christian life is not always exciting,
but it is always exacting. Meekness is often anger
purified of self-interest. I don’t mind being "the least of all saints,"
but I don’t want to be the most stupid of them. If a million people smiled on me while I knew
God frowned on me, I would not be happy.
But if God smiled on me while a million people
frowned on me, I would not be unhappy. I cannot live on excitement--
not even Christian excitement.
I can live on inspiration--
Spirit-born within me. Our problem is stewardship, not leadership. "Is this vile world a friend to Grace?" asks a
poet.
The answer is "no"--"sonship" today means
hardship. When folk seek my advice, I am a counselor.
When I give my advice, I’m meddling. If Christ is not worth everything you have,
He is not worth anything you have. He who gave all He had for me
demands that I give all I have to Him. I would rather be disappointed
than a disappointment. A contentious spirit is a sign of immaturity. Happiness is the goal of the sinner.
Holiness is the goal of the believer. If we are seated with him in the Heavenlies,
we’ll not be sinning with them in the earthlies. When Jesus laid aside His glory and took our
flesh, He knew it.
When we lay aside the flesh and walk in the
Spirit, we know it. The sparrow hath found a house,
but eagles dwell in lofty mountain grandeurs.
Where do we live?