Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6815, 19 January 1929, Page 6

Devotional Column

PEECEPT. Thou shall not shut tliinc hand from thy poor brother. Dcut. 15, 7. PROMISE. He that, hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed. Prov. 22, 9. PRAiSE. Blessed be Thou Lord .... for .... it is in Thine Hand to give. 1 Cb.ron. 29, 10-12.

LOVE THAT NEVER FAILETH. Christ does not call us servants, but friends, lovers, united to Him in tho holy bonds of affeotion. Our love should be so strong that we could lay down our lives for Him as He did for us. Are wo responding to this matchless friendship,' obedient children of the Father, devoted to the Elder Brother, as well as loving every member of the family, even the most hateful and obnoxious. Jesus was friendly to Judas till the last final act of treachery; He let him kiss Him in the garden, saying tenderly, "Friend, how earnest thou hither?" Are we in fellowship like this with our Lord,, praying for our enemies and crying out in tho spirit of David towards his rebellious boy, “0 Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, would God I had died for thee"? The greatest thing in the world is love, for it never failcth. Without love we, are nothing; witl; it wo may be everything that makes manhood noble and true. Jesus’ love is tho sweetest legacy ever bequeathed to the human soul, and the greatest eulogy pronounced over the human spirit is, "He ivas like his Lord, a lover of mankind." Often more than financial aid, Advice or other help, the best of all is to a troubled world the sympathy of love. The soothing balm of, Christ’s deepest affection, the hidden pearls from the depths of His bosom, is everlasting, love.

GOD’S LOVE. "Wide, wide as the occsu, Deep as the deepest sen, High, high as the heavens above is God’s love to me. I. though so unworthy, still am a 'child of His care, For His Word teaches me, that His love reaches me everywhere.”

STRENGTH THROUGH SUFFERING

It was country road, an'd a "dirt” road at that. The time was mid-win-ter. Our old friend, the family physician, took it good-naturedly when we came to a half-mile stretch where the wheels • of the buggy sank hub-deep and the two horses made heavy going of it. Again, it was a pike on a summer’s day. This time it was an automobile and the carburettor had become clogged. A tedious, perspiring job it was. But the doctor, albeit a man of years, took it. as a matter of course. By dint of much persuasion, the doctor gave reasons -for his gooxl humour, and expounded a few verses of scripture. "Let. me tell you,” he said, "of two boys—twins. One fell sick. It was a stubborn case, but at last he was restored to perfect health. The family however, his twin brother included, had made a pet of him during that illness. When ho recovered, they continued to pam'per him—he had come to expect it. In a few years, that boy was ‘spoiled.’ He Was petulant, irritable, miserable himself and an annoyance to others. Needless to say he did not make a great mark in the world. The other twin had his share of buffeting, and made a man who was a credit to his people and a strength in church and community. Yet before he had been ruined bycoddling, the pampered twin was the equal of the other boy.” Eyes twinkling, the gray-haired physcian added, “We should not ask our heavenly Father to spoil us. It is not best for use, nor for the happiness of them around us. Paul exults in the peace found through Christ, and then goes

on to laud tribulation as a factor in growth, as you find in the fifth of Romans.”

THE SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE. "How can you look so pleasant to night?” a man asked his friend. “You have had a score of interruptions this afternoon, when you had hoped to do a lot of work.” "That’s all right,” was the answer; "every ■ mornirig I give my day- to Christ, then I take what lie sends. These interruptions come in the way of duty-. Why should I complain about the service He has appointed?” ’ HIGH AND LOW WAY. To every man there openeth A Way and ways and a way. And the high soul climbs the high way, And the low soul gropes the low, And in between, on the misty flats, The rest drift to and fro. But to every man there openeth A High Way and a low. WORD AND DEED. We used .to hear a great deal about Christian testimony; in fact, we ought to hear much more about this, now. However far the Church may advance, it will, never get beyond the place where it is not the privilege of its members to "confess with thy mouth

Jesus as Lord.’.’ But this is not the only way to confess Christ. He who does the will of Christ day by day is confessing Him. He who is just and honest and of good report; he who shuns evil companions and delights in the company of the pure ond tho true —that man is truly confessing Christ. This docs not interfere with the testimony of the lips. But we must nevor forgot that the testimony of the life must accord with that of the lips, and that when the two disagree, it is alw-avs the testimony of tho life that is taken. Tho late Captain John Lauder, tho only- son of Sir Harry Lauder, was under treatment in a hospital from shell-shock. Tho first day he was able to be out of bed, he went to’tlie piano and began playing Softly Soon a nurse came to him, and said that one of her patients, also a" captain in tho Gordon Highlanders, wished to speak to him. "'That' man,”' Captain Lauder wrote, “had suffered ten operations in less than a week. He asked’me if I could play a hymn. He said ho would like to hear ‘Load, Kindly Light.’ So I went back to the piano and played it and sang it, as : softly and gently as I could. It was his last request. He died an hour- later. f I was very l ; glad I had learned that hy r mn at home as a boy.” ‘

Jesus Christ was the greatest ami best believer that over lived. He also was the greatest lover, > and had the greatest will to obey. -He'- was also the greatest warrior.