Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6809, 12 January 1929, Page 4

Devotional Column

PRECEPT. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; consider vour ways. ' * ' Haggai 1,7. PROMISE. If any man hear My voice . . I will come in to him. Eev. 3. 20. PRAYER. Hold Thou mo up and I shall be Safe, Psalm 119,11. COME UNTO ME. (St. Matt. xi. 28-30.) I. Come to your Saviour now, ,Yc weary ones, who heavy burdens ••'bear; Humbly before Him bow, And cast iipon Him all your load of care. ' ' • ' H. His yoke upon you take— _ ' ■• For that is easy, and His burden light All sinful ways fbrsake And henceforth walk by faith, and not by sight. . 1 : 111. His gracious words receive, And learn of Him, the lowly, meek in heart; His promises believe, And never from the narrow way depart / IV. No "longer, then, delay, Nor wandering farther from His peaceful fold; His loving call obey, And find in Him soul-rest and joys untold. THE NEW LIFE POE THE NEW YEAE. Life is a Journey. I will live it trustingly. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow ... I will fear no evil, Thou art with me." (Psa. 23:4) Life is a Task. ~ will live it obediently. "We keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight." (1 John 3:22) Life is a Mission. I will live it helpfully. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another." (Eph. 4:32)

Life is a Contest. I will live it earnestly. "Watch ye, stand fast in tho faith, quit ye like men, be strong." (Cor. 16:13) Life is a Battle. I will live it courageously. "Be strong and of good courage; bo not afraid; for the Lord thy God is with thee." (Josh. 1:9)

CHEIST WORKS HIS WITNESS. "The works which the Father has given Me to finish . . . bear witness with Me." If we would know how the life of Christ has affected the life of the world we should read Phillips Brooks’ 'The Influence of Jesus,’ and Pickard S. Storrs’ ‘The Divine .Origin of Christianity as Attested by its Influence on Mankind.” One cannot read these books even superficially without seeing tho truth of De Pressense’s sayings, "The Fifth Gospel is the work of Christ among men." It is nothing new to say that the influence of Christ abides. Christ is the most powerful anl prevailing personal factor in the life of the world. This- is what Napoleon was most amazed at. He said, "I cannot imagine a Caesar, dead for nearly 2000 years, still, dominating tho purposes and de'i'eTminibg the policies of their friends. Nor can we. Only the greatest men 'Can dominate the purposes and control the policies of their friends during life. Death puts an end to even that uncertain power. The death of Christ, however ,was not the end but the prelude to the true beginning of His power. The risen Christ is no longer limited by time and space. Thenceforth He is the universal Inspirer of mankind and the illimitable Comrade and Guide. What has Christ been doing these past eighteen hundred years? Cleansing corrupt lives, humbling proud spirits, softening hard hearts, comforting mourners and saving sinners from despair. "The works which the Father hath given me to finish. . . bear witness of Me.”

THE TEANSFOEMATION. "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory." Most significant in this beautiful expression of Christian conversion is tho word "changed." The New Testament tells us many things about the way to a Christian life, but the' major emphasis is always this: To become a Christian you must be ckangedi And that change is no complex-* process, hard to understand- and

difficult to experience. It is simply changing from bad to good, from hate to love, from selfishness to sacrifice. It is a transformation from the worldly, natural man into the image of the Lord Jesus, the heavenly Man. When David Livingstone was passing one day through a small village, an African chief came to him and said he wished to become a Christian. The chief was told that he must return home, dismiss all of his thirty wives but one, change his whole mode of living, and then return to be baptised. Upon hearing this the African replied that he did not want to be a Christian that way; ho had heard that ho could bo a disciple just by taking a dose of medicine! Many modern folk are not unlike that African chief. They want to become Christians but are willing to do anything else except make a sacrifice for Christ.

Only one glorious way to the Christian life is pictured for us in the New Testament. With repentant, humble hearts, we must come to Jesus. We must, with an "open face"—an absolutely honest and upright face —look upon the glory of the Lord’s character and life. We must look steadily upon that life. And as we look, with faith in our hearts, we shall be changed, tiansformed, transfigured,, converted into the same imago as the Lord. If we hold him continually before our eyes, our Christian life will unfold from glory unto glory. We shall put on Christ’s grace as a lovely vestment; we shall put on the beauty of His character, and even the lilies of the field will not be arrayed like unto those who have thus been adorned with the transformation that manifests itself in the lives of those who .accept and trust Him.

LITTLE THINGS. A holy life is..made up of a number of small things. Little words, not eloquent speeches; little deeds, not miracles or battles, not one great heroic act of mighty martyrdom make up the Christian life. The avoidance of little evils, little sins, little inconsistencies, little weaknesses, little follies, indiscretions, and imprudence; little foibles, little indulgences of the flesh, the avoidance of such little things as these go far to make up, at least the negative beauty of a holy life. Horatius Bonar. Christ is come to be my Friend, Leading, loving to the end; Christ is come to be my King, Ordering ,ruling everything. Christ is come! Enough for me, Lonely though the pathway be. —Selected.