Week 15—Sunday Luke 19:12-27
TWO METHODS OF GOD—IN LOWER NATURE AND US
We come now to the task of gathering up the threads of what we have been saying. We have been writing about the two approaches to life—the Christian approach from Revelation down and the scientific approach from the facts up and out to conclusions. We have been saying that if you take either of these approaches, or both, you will come out to the fact of Christ. He is “the heir of all things”—all things come to his feet. And the last emphasis is important. We have said that a scientist comes to the conclusion that “Christianity is the method of God with us, and evolution is the method of God with nature.” But note that the scientist says that both are “the methods of God.” In this discussion, we are saying that they are not two distinct methods; they are two sides of one method—the method of redemption. God is redeeming from weakness and incapacity through evolution and from sin and incapacity through Grace. They are both redemption.
Jesus puts these two processes together. He gives the parable of the pounds (Luke 19:12-27). To each servant was given a pound, and they were told to develop it. The first had developed the pound into ten and was made ruler of ten cities; another had gained five and was made ruler over five cities; and one buried his pound—he did nothing with it. So it was taken away and given to the man who had ten. “To every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not”—does not develop what he has—“even what he has will be taken away.” This is the hard school of the survival of the fittest and the elimination of the unfit. And Jesus, as the Author of nature, accepts that and applies it to human conduct. Develop or decay is the stern dictum. This is hard, but the alternative would be harder—the race would never progress. Softness would mean decay and death.
O Father, you are our Father and your sternness is our salvation. You are pressing the hard facts upon us, but always pressing us forward. Your pressures are your redemption. You will not let us rest this side of our highest possibilities—in you. We thank you. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: Soul of mine, listen to this: develop or decay.