We Wrestle Not!

We are slackers, and as far as I can discern, at the

judgment seat of Christ there will be no medals for

slackers. Dear reader, do you and I realize that we

are just one heartbeat from a fixed state of reward,

be it of joy or shame?

Napoleon Bonaparte made a lonely surprise visit one night to

the outpost sentries on one of the vital positions of his

battlefield. Stealthily he moved along in the gray light of the

morning. One sentry after another immediately challenged him.

Finally, the crafty warrior stole up to a strategic spot. There

was no sentry to challenge him. The wily Napoleon moved closer

and saw a pair of boots protruding from under a shock of corn and

a rifle propped beside them. He made no comment - just picked up

the rifle and himself stood guard, waiting for the awakening of

the snoozing soldier. Finally the corn stirred, and up jumped the

guilty defender and grabbed for the gun that was gone. Can you

imagine his confusion and chagrin? What a bitter and shattering

experience - caught napping by *Napoleon!* When the Lord of glory

returns, will He find us Christians sleeping at our post of duty?

John the Apostle warns that we be not ashamed before Him at His

coming.

I well remember a Bible conference in England where I stood on

a platform beside a wrinkled old lady. She had a faraway look in

her eyes and the drip of a tear from them too, as hundreds of

people were singing:

There is a love constraining me

To go and seek the lost;

I yield, O Lord, my all to Thee,

To save at any cost.

That "elect lady," known to prisons and scarred in spiritual

battle, was none other than the Marechale, eldest daughter of

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. She had

written the above stanza as part of a lovely hymn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Will He find us Christians sleeping

at our post of duty?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The versatility of Paul is amazing. To the Thessalonians the

very same man who stormed down the road to Damascus is "as gentle

as a nurse"; to the Romans he reveals the brilliance of his legal

mind; and to the Corinthians he is "a wise master builder." But

to Timothy, Paul is "a soldier of Jesus Christ." Years later the

famed English cricketer, C.T. Studd, who deserted the playing

field for the battlefield of world evangelism, used to twit folk

about being what he called "chocolate soldiers." In his "Quaint

Rhymes of a Quondam Cricketer," he has this ditty:

Get up, get up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross,

A lazy Sunday morning surely means harm and loss;

The Church of God is calling; in duty be not slack;

You cannot fight the good fight while lying on your back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We are not living in a day

of militant Christianity.

The very suggestion

throws many into a

spiritual pout..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Let's face it: We are *not* living in a day of militant

Christianity. The very suggestion throws many into a spiritual

pout, for they believe the Lord did all the fighting. (Appalling

philosophy!) They glibly tell me,"The battle has already been won

at Calvary." Christ *did* win, but that does not eliminate human

responsibility. The folly of this philosophy was burned into my

mind recently while visiting tough mission fields. Men hardly

expect our soldiers on earth's battle fronts to make their own

ammunition as well as to fire it at the belligerent enemy. Yet on

the mission battlefield we kept hearing of the lack of conquest

when the folk at home cease to pray. The new missionary is

snowed under with readjustments. His mind has to get readjusted

to a new language; his spirit has to get readjusted to a heathen

atmosphere; his appetite has to get readjusted to new foods; his

soul has to get readjusted to new emotions. All things are new -

new pressures he never dreamed of, new burdens he never thought

of, new physical challenges. On top of these, the new missionary

has to do his own sweating in prayer for victory against foes,

entrenched for millenniums, who stubbornly resist ejection. All

this time we at home fail to pray. We are slackers, and as far as

I can discern, at the judgment seat of Christ there will be no

medals for slackers. Dear reader, do you and I realize that we

are just one heartbeat from a fixed state of reward, be it of joy

or shame?

A missionary just wrote, "On many mission fields there is no

lack of new missionaries who have technical knowledge." Of course

the know-how for building, educating, and the like, is not to be

despised, for there are countries right now where one cannot

enter simply as a gospel missionary; he must be an artisan.

Nevertheless, today the missionary cries,"We are in need of men

of burning hearts, men who can knock on doors, or trail in the

bush, men motivated by holy compassion for souls."

I do not doubt that many Christians who read this chapter will

mourn that they are not eligible for the foreign field. Others

will mourn that though they crucified the flesh and the lusts

thereof, they neglected the bit of the text which demands

crucifying the affections. There is no question that this demand

for crucifixion is tough on young folk. But men who were called

to earth's battlefields crucified their affections. In the last

war, I saw rivers of tears as men left our country for the mud

and blood of the battlefield. The athlete might come back with a

shattered body, he might come back blinded, he might come back

with a flag over him - but what of that? The risk was coolly

calculated, for England was in peril. So, tears or no tears,

heartache or no heartache, sacrifice slipped out of one's

vocabulary.

But some men who once missed years of home comfort to fight

on earth's battlefields will not miss even one night's comfort

now to pray for mission fields. Today there is so much physical

comfort for the pray-ers. (Our churches are more air-conditioned

than prayer-conditioned, and are well-heated, too.) Not so for

Master David Brainerd. The lone forest buried in snow, saw him

grief-stricken and broken-hearted over the lawless, immoral,

drunken Indians. Of our Saviour one wrote,

"Long nights and chilly mountain air

Witnessed the fervour of His prayer."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prayer *must* have priority.

Prayer *must* be our bolt to

lock up the night, our key to

open the day."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Prayer is battle. Could it be that in our churches the right

slogan over the door of most of our prayer rooms would be "We

Wrestle *Not*"? I often see listed in churches names of athletes

who will play ball of some kind, but I would like to see these

"muscle men" operating where strength really counts - that is, in

the place of prayer. Prayer taxes even the physical frame; prayer

wears on the nerves; prayer involves the whole man. Prayer *must*

have priority. Prayer *must* be our bolt to lock up the night,

our key to open the day. Prayer is power. Prayer is wealth.

Prayer is health of the soul.

"Prayer is the soul's sincere desire,

Uttered or unexpressed,

The motion of a hidden fire

That trembles in the breast.

Prayer makes the darkened clouds withdraw;

Prayer climbs the ladder Jacob saw;

Gives exercise to faith and love,

Brings every blessing from above."

Shall men crippled in earthly warfare call Christians

"chocolate soldiers" because we fear the gashes the enemy of

souls might inflict upon us? God forbid! Shall men whose hearts

once bled as they left wife and children (many with a one-way

ticket) rise to our condemnation because in the greatest warfare

the world has ever known, and for the greatest Captain of time

and eternity, we can neither rise to pray nor skip the blankets

for one night? Again I quote Scripture: "God forbid!"

When Paul the Apostle says, "Some have not the knowledge of

God; I speak this to your shame," *did he mean you?*

------

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