DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 272, 15 October 1927, Page 6

DEVOTIONAL COLUMN

PRAYER THOUGHT. In the days of our defeat enable us to believe that thou, Lord, didst rise again. LEAVE THE THREAD WITH GOD. In the outworking of life there are some things that only God can do for us; and some things which only we can do for cursives. We cannot do God’s part, and Ho will not do ours. We must spin, but He determines what the thread shall do and become. The painstaking is ours, the pattern is His. Our web of life often may look mere tangled skein, but that is because wo cannot yet see tho upper side of the tapestry. Be patient, and Spin cheerfully, Not tearfully, Though wearily you plod. Spin carefully, Spin prayerfully, But leave tho thread to God. The shuttles of His purpose move To carry out His own design, Seek not too soon to disapprove His work, nor yet assign Dark motives, when with silent dread You view each sombre fold, For lo! within each darker thread There shines a thread of gold. Spin cheerfully, Not tearfully, He knows the way you plod. Spin carefully, Spin prayerfully, But leave the thread to God. THE CROSS OF CHRIST. (Allen Walker). “God forbid that I should glory, save in tho cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto mo, and I unto the world.” Gal. 6: 14. Humanly speaking, there was much that Paul could have gloried in. He could have gloried in an illustrious ancestry; he could have gloried in eloquence; li6 could have glorified in his educational attainments, or in many other things. But all these meant nothing to him. He counted them “but refuse” that he might win Christ.

Paul so dedicated himself to the cross of Christ and what it stood for that he lost sight of everything else. Ho said that on account of his interest in the cross the world meant nothing to him, and lie meant nothing to the world. All his exultations and interests were in tho cross. What was there about the cross thatmeant so much to Paul? That question is not hard to answer. It was at the cross that the truth of John 3: 16, was displayed in its fullness; it was on the cross Jesus died for him; it was there that the “previous blood” was shed through which he obtained pardon and redemption. It was through the suffering on the cross that the grace of God is freely offered to every lost sinner. As Paul contemplated these things, liis heart overflowed with gratitude and love, and he gloried in tho cross. In view of all this, what did the world have that could have interested him ?—Nothing. May we all get such a vision of the cross and what it may mean to us that we too may become crucified to, the world and tho world to us.

AN IDEAL

“Think truly, and thy thought® Shall the world’s famine feed; Speak truly, and each word of thine Shall bo a fruitful seed; Live truly, and thv life shall be A great anad noble creed.” —BONAR.

WHERE TO READ. We have had lots of advice given to us as to what we ought to read, but it is not often that we are told where we ought to read what we read. Recently Mr Wyndham Lewis, an English writer, has been liauding out 6omo advice along'this line. This writer says: “To extract the essential soul and flavour of certain books, one should endeavour to read them in the exact surrroundings in which they were conceived, or in surroundings as nearly similar as may bo; for the clear air, the sky, and the water are, as it were mixed with the writer’s mind and woven into the very stuff of his imaginings.” Mr Lewis illustrates what he moans when ho goes on to say: “One would naturally read Shakespeare in a Warwickshire meadom in buttercup time; or else in tlie Norfolk Chapel at Arundel.”

The works of Kipling, the famous author, are most profitably read in tlie Crystal Palace on Empire Day during a massed brass band contest; if that can bo arranged. If Mr Lewis is correct in his conclusions, then there may be a reason for so little appetite for tlie Scriptures. If human books needs an atmosphere, how much more does the Book of God. How can we expect to derive much from our reading of the Word if we are reading with unspiritual eyes and heart and in an atmosphere as far from being spiritual as light is separated from darkness? Tho coldness of 6ome church services is positively alien to a refreshing portion from the Word. We need to come to the Book from our knees. Elocution or fine style can never make up ■ for lack of atmosphere. We best prepare ourselves for reading publicly or privately for understanding or expounding for others the Book of God by a visit to the secret place alone with . God. To breathe the air of heaven in the place of prayer is what we all need more than ever for a full understanding of the Word. A spiritual atmosphere is most Important for all who wish to get the most out of their Bible reading. To rush from business or pleasure to Bible reading is sure to render our reading unsavoury and dead. . But, having met God in a delightful spiritual atmosphere, we can then go to the Book and confidently look for the Book to speak to us and through us.