March 12

We satisfieth the longing soul. — PSALM cvii. 9.

They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. — MARK ii. 17.

THE truth taught in these words is apparent in the experience of Christian workers in every land. Where there is no conviction of sin there can be no fitness to hear the Saviour's call to repentance. Many a man will admit that he is not in robust health who does not feel ill enough to call a physician, and there is an every-day sense of the need of food and drink, which is easily satisfied. But the feeling that one is sick unto death, and the sense of hunger and thirst such as one has in the heat of a desert with no knowledge of a supply at hand, are very different things. So many a man will admit in a general way that he is a sinner, when the admission only means that he is not so good a man as he ought to be; but to realize that one is really guilty before God and needs the Son of God to save him from eternal punishment is a very different thing. It is only when the Holy Spirit brings the soul to a sense of its sinfulness in the sight of God that it is ready to hear Christ's call to repentance and obey it.

The gospel call is addressed to the hungry, thirsty, burdened, and weary. These words all denote feeling a deep sense of want.

His name is Jesus, and he died For guilty sinners crucified; Content to die, that he might win Their ransom from the death of sin. No sinner worse than I can be, Therefore I know he died for me. G. W. BETHUNE