THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 2 April 1938, Page 10

THE RELIGIOUS OUTLOOK

CHRISTIAN ENTHUSIASM (Contributed) The only antidote* of lukewarmness j is enthusiasm. The church will take her rightful place in the life of the nation, when Christians repent and return to the Lord their God —rediscover their first love. Nothing less than a wholehearted surrender to Christ—a passionate devotion to Him. expressing itself in the “fruit of ?ood works” — will do. This is what we are praying for to-day. Now I ask you. as I ask myself, in our heart of hearts do we really desire a life of such intensity? I am not at' all sure that we do. Somewhere, listening to me. is the man who disparages what he is pleased to call "Excessive emotion in religion.” There are many people about us who may be described as "Religious, but not enthusiastic.” On this subject there is an awful lot of muddle-headed thinking. It seems to me that many of these good people who object to "religious excitement” do not realise that there is all the difference in the world between excitement and enthusiasm. I am willing to admit that in the past we have suffered from j theologians who have lacked a spirit of ' Evangelism, and from Evangelists who. to put it mildly, could have done with a little more theology. But my point is. that you can be on fire for God. keen, j wholehearted, without having the least particle of excitement about you. Two! of the most level-headed men who ever lived were John Wesley and Martin I Luther. One was a great evangelist, i the other throbbed with moral passion. I You go with this man who objects to j enthusiasm in religion to a football match. What about his enthusiasm , now? Is he a “nice quiet” spectator? j See the same man in business —he is [ alert, alive to his finger-tips. The next ; time you go into the city look into the faces of the business men you see there j —what will you see? "This one thing ! I do” written across all their faces. Enthusiasm Necessary to Success The simple truth is that if you are 1 going to do anything or get anywhere I you must be enthusiastic—you have got to burn. Every artist worthy of the name is an enthusiast. Every actor . who grips you burns, feels, and throbs, j Every great musician or singer must i I not only be the master of his technique. ! but he must feel what he or sings. I The author who touches a thousand' ! lives with his words must write with his life-blood. Every mother who would have her children arise and call her blessed consumes her life for them. , It is even so with religion: we have to be keen, ardent, on fire. “Wholeheartedness” is a characteristic of Jesus Christ. Holy enthusiasm tempered His every thought, word and I deed. He faced all the issues of life ; with line feeling and utter sincerity—how powerfully He prayed—how inI tensely He lived—with what keenness . ;he set His face towards Jerusalem. There was nothing apathetic, luke- , ; warm and tepid about Him. Christ revealed an ardent God. The wholehearted and whole-souled God of the Old Testament becomes the loving Father ol' the New Testament, who [ reaches clown to the uttermost. God so loved that He gave—spared not His own Son. Now let us for a moment look and r see how this Divine enthusiasm works i out in- human history. It is always at all times the Spirit of God working ■ in and through men which re-creates. ■ The John the Baptist of every age has always been the man who has caught • the Divine spark. Gibbon, in his “De- • | cline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” ) tells of the victory that Christianity gained over the established systems of religion in the first and second cenr turies. According to this writer and others there were four things that very : largely contributed to this end: (1) The • inflexible zeal of the Christians. The I early Christians burned with a passion for truth; (2) their enthusiastic belief > in the future life. All around them was > despair: the grave was a gaping chasm. I cold and hopeless. The Christians came declaring their belief in and love of > One who had returned from the other ■ side of the grave as the conqueror of ■ death; (3) the way the early Christians : accepted the power of God. Christ had ■ said: "My Father worketh hitherto and I work,” and that was enough for them. . God was working in and through the : things He had made: (4) the pure and i austere morals of the Christians. The historian says their lives were much I liner than those of their pagan contemporaries. They translated the Ser- : mon on the Mount into life and laid I the foundation on which Western civilisation was built. To-day In our day it is this Christian understanding of lile that is being challenged, and it is up to us to provide the satisfactory answer. Literally everything depends upon whether or not the Chrisi tians oi our day will prove equal to the j task. ' The Greatest Need I have no hesitation in saying that enthusiasm for Jesus Christ is the greatest need of our age. Professor Glover states that it is a historic fact, that whenever a church or an inj dividual seriously puts Christ first, light and power always follow. St. Paul found more in Christ as he expected . more. Luther made the same discovery; j be P u t a new emphasis on Jesus and a new era followed. The same is true of St. Francis of Assisi and John Wesley. | j It is the men and women who make much oi Jesus Christ, who catch His • spirit, who are fired by His love, who | really do things. This is the fire we need, the fire that burned in the Hebrew , prophets, the holy passion that constrained the Apostles, the throbbing en- ' Ihusiasm for humanity that led Christ • to the Cross of Calvary and on to final , victory.