Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6948, 29 June 1929, Page 14

Devotional Column

Precept. Be at peace among yourselves. 1 Tiicss. 5 13. , Promise. Peacemakers . . . shall be called the children of God. Matt. 5, 9. Prayer. Examine me, 0 Lord, and prove me. Psalm 26, 2. living for Christ In my little abode, Helping my dear ones O’er a rough head; Turning dark corners of gloom Into light, Doing each duty with joy And delight, Seeking to please my. Lord. Turning my eyes Prom the world's bright glow, I.coking to Jesus The Whole day through. Turning away To His cpiict and calm, Singing a hymn And thanksgiving psalm, Always happy in Him. TWICE BORN.

A man I knew was a sceptic, or at least lie thought he was. When cornered in ai\ argument, lie would take refuge in “Prove it now! Just give mo a demonstration!” And in spite of all his doubts, ho was one of the most lovable follows who ever lived. As wc walked along the old subject came up, “How can a man be born again?” My friend contended that it was not demonstrable, but “just a petty conceit of the mystics.” There had been a great storm the night before and a number of large trees were uprooted in the park. Wc stopped to look at a splendid giant oak wo had often admired, but which had yielded to the blast. “I wonder what happened to him?” said I. “Happened!” cried my friend, “why, it’s easy to see what happened; last night’s wind brought him to earth.” “How do you know this?” I asked. And ho said: “Because no other agency could have produced this result.” Wo turned in at'the factory gate. A fine-looking man, a little past middle life, was directing some men. As he smiled a welcome my friend asked, “Who is that man?” I game him the name of one who five years before had boon the town drunkard, a wife-beatcr, and a man whose very breath was profane. My friend could hardly curb his astonishment. “Reformed!” spid he. “No,” I replied, “reborn.” And then he used the same .wofds he had used a few minutes before in the park: “No other agency could have produced this result.” And as we walked along ho repeated, like one who was grasping a truth for the first time: “But const not tell whence it, comcth, and whither it goctli: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” THE TONGUE.

“The- boneless tongue, so small, so weak, Can crush and kill,” declares the Greek.' “The tongue destroys a greater horde,” Tho Turks assert, “tlian does the s-wprd.” The Persian proverb wisely sait-h: “A lengthy tongue, an early death;”

Or sometimes takes this form instead: “Don’t let your tongue cut off your head.” “The tongue can speak-a word whose speed, ’ ’ Says the Chinese, “Outstrips' the steed”; While Arab.sages this impart: “The tongue’s great storehouse is the heart.” From Hebrew writ this saying sprung: “Tho’ feet should slip, ne’er let the tongue.” The sacred writer crown» the whale: “Who keeps his tongue doth keep his soul.” - . FAITH CREATES FAITH. In Mark ii. 5-12 wc liavo a swift series of pictures, both forceful and pathetic. There is the helpless, para*ly.tic, his face now and again rovealing the faint flickering light of 1 a glimmering hope. And here are the four friends, sympathetic, optimistic, perfectly assured, urging their way through the surging crowd. And here are “certain of the Scribes” sitting in the ’house, cold, unemotional, jealous for the sustained authority of their Own'school. And in the midst of it all, the Master!

What docs He think about it? What docs He see? He sees the invisible. The merely material becomes tho unsubstantial, and the spiritual stands revealed. The picturesquo setting melts away, and the unseen background of dispositions emerges into view. Bodies become transparencies, and tho naked spirit stands unveiled in the searching light of the uncreated beam. The Master sees the faith of the bearers—“Jcsius seeing their faith.” Thera wo have faith in'its last analysis. To have faith ip Jesus is to have confidence in the ability and reliability,of Jesus to do what Ho claims to do.

Now, if simple trust be tho primary ingredient in faith, se how such faith in Jcs-us operates in the common life. Faith evinces itself in work, love-in labour, hope in patienee. Where there is no faith, there is a consequent loss of heart and Joss of courage, and strength is dissipated in waste of retreat. Tho faith of these men was full of power, applying itself' as “a splendid dynamic in actual service. Yes, and their faith has raised a hopo in the palsied one, Hera lies thet man, a helpless log. The Master looks at him, through him, and behold! another. Icind of paralysis is-revealed. The* man cannot command the activities-of ris own soul! His spiditual volition is impaired. His body is imprisoned’ in tho palsy, his soul imprisoned in sin. Tho four friends had laid the paralysed body at tho Master’s feet. How Startled they would be when the first. woTds of Jesus had no reference to the body. “Thy sins be forgiven -thee.” The Lord addressed himself to the lb rect need, to the palsied spirit. Tho forgiveness of tho Lord is not seme sweet and ineffectual sentiment, It is the mighty energy of creation engaged in tho work of re-creation. When the" Lord says “forgiven,” the life that was locked and imprfeonod in,... icy winter feels round about it €h&,influence of a warm and expansive spring. Where sin abounds grace doth much more abound. The forces of spiritual health are in tho ascendant, and the powers of evil and night arc dethroned and in retreat. When the master said “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” an'an- • gel might havo witnessed, “This" Thy brother was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.”