SUNDAY COLUMN

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 49, 7 December 1940, Page 3

SUNDAY COLUMN

NEWS OF THE CHURCHES.

DEVOTIONAL READING.

(Conducted bt the Ashburton Ministers’ Association) .

“I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from theevil.” —John 17:1S.

Oar Lord was about to take His die- : parture from His friends who were then about Him. For. Him there would be the Cross, suffering and death. For His companions there would be struggle against evil and persecution by evil men. Because of the evil in; the world Jesus might have asked for His disciples to be taken out of the world. < (a) By a painless death. But He did not. We can see how, in His own time of danger, He saw to it that they were saved for the future. He foresaw would be this, (ib) By a call to a life of seclusion, ascetics in the time of our Lord and since have sought to cut themselves off from the evil in, the world by shutting themselves away from their fellows. But Jesus was no ascetic, either in His practice or teaching. And here, in this great high priestly prayer of His, we find Him praying for the protection of His followers from evil and not for their isolation or removal from it. Was He wise? If they had become ascetics think what they could have been saved from sorrow, danger and temptation. Why did He not pray for seclusion or separation? Because if. this had been, their lot they would have been prevented from enjoying and manifesting worthy things too. (I.) Why did He not pray that they should be tajeen out of the world? (a) Because there was work to be done. H© was leaving the world and iHis work in it as well as His friends. Who would continue His wo/rk if they were taken ? The church of those earliest days spread so rapidly because Christians were so, much in the world. They did not hold aloof from life and its concerns. Christians arte to he as salt and leaven to their surroundings. For this beneficent work contact is needed, and through association a purifying and uplifting influence is to l he exerted. We who name ourselves by the name of Christ are to seek to make a better world. What are we doing ? (h) Because 1 character must be formed. “Talent develops itself in solitude; character in the stream of life.” To live well w© must strive against adverse things. To gain strength of character we must resist evil. The material with which we build character is quarried out of the experiences of living in the world. Let us use well these means of personal growth. (II.) “That Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” The ascetic maintained that the world is evil, Jesus evidently believed that the truth of the matter is, there is evil in the world. He also had His own perspective of evil. Moral evil rather than physical is the worse and is most to be avoided. We should seek to be delivered from wrongdoing rathejr than hardness. Disobedience of God or of Christ is worse by far than danger or death. The supreme, evil is sin. The ascetics discovered that not all temptation is dependent on environment. Seclusion does not guard from all evil. Further, have we not learned that part of the task of Christians is to grapple with the evil in the world, to destroy it and defend others from it. Character is determined by our reaction to evil. It is hard to see how fine character would be formed if there were no, evil in the world to be fought. Let us seek help from the example and sacrifice and Spirit of Jesus. Tliis is a suitable prayer for parents and others to U9e when, they pray for those under their care. Parents have their part to play in preparing their young people to grapple with, the evil in the world 1 . They can give warning regarding possible foes of the soul, they can pass on moral and spiritual principles and they can, set a -worthy example. They can. teach them to pray and pray for them as Jesus did for His friends and -when they have done all they can they should fall back upon their faith in God’s providential care of us, and remember that He will guard our children, not because they are ours but because they are His. A PRAYER. “O Thou who indwellest in our poor and shabby human life, lifting it now and then above the dominance of animal passion and .greed, allowing it to shine with the /borrowed lights of love and joy and peace, and making it a mirror of the beauties of a world unseen, grant that my part in the world’s life to-day may not be to obscure the splendour" of Thy presence but rather to make it more plainly visible to the eyes of my fellow men. G Thoui the reflection of whose transcendent glory did once appear’ unhrokein in the face of Jesus 'Christ, give me to-day a heart like His—a brave heart, a true heart, a tender heart, a heart with great . room in it, a heart fixed o'n Thyself; for His name’s sake. Amen.”

—Hr. John Baillie in “A Diary of Private 'Prayer.”.