Devotional Column

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7044, 31 December 1932, Page 3

Devotional Column

Precept,

Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God. Jude 20, 21. Promise I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. Isa. 58, 14. Prayer. The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine on thee, and bo gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His eountenanco upon thee, and fjuve thee peace, Hum. 6. 24-26. “WHEN NO MAN CAN WORK.” This may be the last year of your life. Time is hurried; I take my hourglass, and put it down before me many an hour, just to see that time is in a hurry and won’t stop. Wo haven’t much time. You can not stay here long; you have got to go quickly; pretty soon you will be gone, and our hands will rest for a million years. Work hard. Don’t whine because you have to work; but thank God you have the chance to do it. Be so honourable in the world’s industry, and so eager to serve, that you will covet the hours you sleep.

Pretty soon it will be time to stop; and a strange visitor will come by, and say: “Quit work!” You will say: “It is not night.’’. But he will persist—f 1 Quit work! ” “It is only 2 o’clock; I have only just begun for the afternoon.”

“Quit work!” “It is not sundown yet, may I not work till night?” “Quit work!” And you will lay down your hammer on the anvil, with your hands black with the smithy, and you will go out with him, and he will say to you: “It is time to quit, work.” And you will say: “Will I be back in the morning?”

“No, not in the morning.” “Will I be back to-mon-ow?” “No, not to-morrow.”

“Where are you taking me?” “I am taking you to a land very far off, and from whoso ‘bourne no traveller returns. ’ Como along. This is the way.'”—Bishop Quaylc. COURAGE. To fear, and yet that others may not quail To know your weakness, hide from sight your fears; To lose one’s self in all the world of living, To find one’s self and give of that self’s best; To work against fatigue and dire disaster And never cry aloud for need of rest; To know that danger threatens, yet to carry An outward calm to face the trouble through, Drawing for strength upon the Source God-given — Thus shall Life’s lamp burn true.

We are called to a life of holiness or sanctification, and we are kept in that life by Jesus Christ. Let us ever keep before us the wondrous vocation which is ours, and let us not be so occupied with tho things of this world that the vocation loses its sense of sac-redness for us.

The only cure for the luke-warmness, worldlings and self-satisfaction in the Church, and in the individual, is to admit to our hearts the personal, loving, living Lord of Calvary, Who, with thorn-crowned brow, stands, outside knocking. Ho Whom we admit as Guest, then becomes Host, taking possession of every corner of heart and life, and ministering to our every need. BIBLE MOTTO FOR NEXT YEAR. It is. a wonderful experience to take some great verse from the Bible and live with it for a long time. Repeat it every day. Let it take possession of you. Think about it. Talk about It. Prove it in your own experience. Lot it become part of you. It will become food to your soul. You will be astonished to find so much more than you realised at your first reading. Try taking such a verse for your motto for the coming year. “Bo not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom. 12.21. Let us fortify ourselves against the attacks of Satan by good, pure thoughts; they will drive out evil seeking entrance. Let us answer unkindly words gently. Let us meet evil intentions against us with a kindness, and “overcome evil with good.’ ’

“In the beginning God.” Gen. 1:1. These four words of the Bible make a good motto. Let us give God the lust place in our lives this year. In the beginning of each day let us have His word of counsel, and our word of thanks and prayer for guidance. Such a prayer in tho morning is better than a prayer for forgivenness in the evening. In the beginning of each undertaking let us seek His wisdom. Let us this year put Him first in every plan. “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thess. 5:17. This does not mean that we must be continually in tho formal act of prayer. It means‘living so that prayer is possible at any instant. It means being conscious of God all the time so that speaking to him is as natural as speaking to the friend walking beside you. “They looked unto Him and were ■lightened.’ ’ Psa. 34:5. “Were radiant,” (Am. Stan. Ver.) This is a great verse to live with, A man of long Christian experience once said to a girl who had just begun to walk with Christ, “It is plain to see that you know Christ, your face looks different already.” This “diffeffrent look” that the face begins to wear is the radiance reflected from Him. Oh- let us look to Him this year that not only our faces but our whole lives may radiate His joy. “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.” Psa. 37:5. If we learn the lesson of this verse this year, we shall have taken great strides in our Christian experience. Really to commit our lives to Him and learn to depend wholly on Him, knowing that. He shall meet our every need, is to live in Christ. Shall we try it this year?

“Call upon Me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not,” Jer. 33:3. This is the promise of which Jeremiah, tho prophet, had deep assurance. He had proved it and so c-ould speak confidently.