Real Christians are not only with Christ, but they live in Him and He lives in them, and because He lives for ever, they also will live for ever with Him, who through death has conquered death (John xiv. 19). But in this new life they will live, not for themselves but for others, for men’s social instincts demand that, besides having fellowship with God, they seek the intercourse of their fellows, and on their interest in the well-being of each other their mutual happiness depends. A common happiness is poisoned by selfishness; hence, when our Lord said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” He meant that where there is true love it expresses itself in a desire for the welfare of others, and it asks from others only that treatment which it is itself ready to give. In this way, in the presence of the Heavenly Father, the mutual happiness of His children is maintained.
Selfishness
Selfishness is the root of all the evil and unrest of our souls. A selfish man overlooks a thousand kindnesses of others, but never forgets the one kind deed that he has done; and he forgets his own thousand shortcomings, but makes a mountain of any small failing in another. For this reason our Lord said: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke ix. 23). That man who denies himself to do God’s will fulfils his own will as well when he does the will of God who created him. For instance, I, in my ignorance, imagine that my way is best, but I find that I can do no other than take the way that God indicates. When once I give up struggling against God’s way, and yield to His will, I find my peace restored in being again in harmony with Him. When I surrender my will I find my peace in doing God’s will. On the other hand, if I insist on doing my own will, not only is my will not fulfilled, but I destroy the very capacity for fulfilling it, for this will is not in harmony with God. In other words, he who denies himself finds himself and God and all else; but, if he does not deny himself, he commits soul-suicide by opposing self to God’s will.
Trust in Riches
Behold the birds of the air that neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, but do make nests for their young. Man, on the other hand, who sows and reaps and gathers, but makes no provision in the next world for himself or for his children, will surely be destroyed together with the riches of the world which he has gathered. For he has failed in this, that he set his heart on his riches, and did not use them for the glory of God, and for the good of men (Luke xvi. 9; xviii. 22). Gold, silver, and the riches of this world can never of themselves appease our hunger or quench our thirst—they can act only as the medium through which we satisfy their pangs. But it is still true that when riches are rightly used they may be a means by which we make friends for “the eternal habitations.”
Hidden Gems
As gold, silver, and precious stones are of no use as long as they remain buried in the ground, so the God-given powers, abilities, and capacities of men are of no value unless they are in use. But, when Christ enters the life of a Christian, He brings out these hidden riches and makes use of them to fulfil His purposes in the world. He made “fishers of men” out of “fishermen” and through them carried on His eternal purpose for the salvation of mankind. As the gold in the mine is not pure, it is purified in the fire; and as the newly-found diamond is shapeless, it is cut and made beautiful; in the same way that fire of the Holy Spirit purges the lives of Christians from their dross, and the Cross cuts and shapes them into beautiful settings and scintillating brilliants that reflect back the light of the glory of God.
An American Business Man
In America, a business man said to me: “I am a Christian, but, though I do my best, I know that I am not as perfect as God intends that I should be. Do you think this will stand in the way of my salvation?” I replied: “We can be as perfect as our Heavenly Father only in heaven. Still, through His grace, we are able to reach to that stage of perfection which is possible for mortal man. Salvation does not depend on our being perfect now, but on this, that, after we have been saved, we shall finally reach perfection. We should not be discouraged because here we are imprisoned ‘in the body of this death.’ On our bodies there is always a certain amount of dirt, but this does no harm if we daily bathe ourselves. So even if we have shortcomings and weaknesses, no harm will come to us if God’s Spirit, which is life of our life, and spirit of our spirit, dwells in us, and if we keep our lives clean by daily prayer. But, in spite of all the washing that we can do, we cannot prevent a body from decomposing if once the soul has left it; so, if God’s spirit, because of our disobedience, has left us, then corruption and spiritual death will surely follow (Rom. viii. 9-11).
The Proper Use of the World
“There is no evil or harm in using any of God’s created things, provided that we do it with thankfulness and with a proper sense of their value. But danger lies in giving the Creator’s place in our hearts to the creature. We should give to the Creator the Creator’s place, and to the creature the creature’s. We can neither live without water nor live in the water. We must drink, but not sink. If we do not drink we shall die of thirst; if we sink we shall die of drowning. So we must use the things of the world in such a way that, while they sustain our bodies, they do not become too strong for us and choke the vital breath of our lives, which is prayer.
Our Perfection
“God wants us to be in the world but not of it, that while living in it we may save ourselves and others. The place for a boat is in the water, but water should not be in the boat. If the boat fills with water, it will itself sink, and drown those in it. So Christians should be in the world, but the world should not be in them. Only in this way will they, and those with them, be safely brought to their destination in heaven. Therefore,” I continued, “do not be so taken up with your business that you have no time for worship and prayer. Do not let the world and love of it fill your heart, lest you should be overcome by it, but live above these things so that you may have victory over them. As we are not perfect ourselves, our thoughts and deeds are bound to be imperfect, but even our mistakes should not discourage us, for we have in us now the germ of perfection on which the future perfection depends. And He who raised us to the status of sons will, in His own appointed time, make us perfect.”
Prayer and Work
A minister then asked me: “Do we need to pray more, or to work more, or to divide our time in doing both?” I replied: “Both are equally necessary. Prayer without work is as bad as work without prayer. As a clucking hen to satisfy its instinct continues to sit in some dark corner even after its eggs have been removed, so the life of those who remove themselves from the busy life of the world and spend their time wholly in prayer is as fruitless as is the hen’s.”
The Manifestation of Christ
The minister asked again: “Why does not Christ reveal Himself in our times as He did to Saint Paul?” I said in reply: “Even in these days He at times reveals Himself to some in their need. Human needs are the same everywhere, but the condition and state of each differs considerably. Therefore God, who knows each human heart, reveals Himself to every seeker after truth according to his state and need.”
In heaven and in earth God proclaims His power and wisdom and glory in His wonderful handiwork; but man, who in a way is the tongue of nature, is silent. God’s wisdom and power are revealed through His creation, but, when He wished to reveal Himself, He could do it only by becoming man. And in these days He reveals Himself to our lost humanity by means of men who dwell in His presence and in whom He Himself dwells.
Often at the bottom of our intentions and desires there is a voice which says, “Do this, or do not do this.” This voice is from God. The man who lives in nearness to God readily hears this voice, but others hear it only with difficulty. If we hear and obey that voice, then God and His will are manifested in us. On the other hand, if the voice reaches us and we do not obey, then we manifest only our self and our self-will.
The human soul is such a subtle reality that it can reveal itself only through another subtle instrument like the brain, which mediates thought, speech, and action. In the same way the Holy Spirit uses a refined and purified life as the means through which He reveals Himself. The light of the glory of God in the same way shines through the lives of His servants to reveal Him to the world.
Eclipse of the Sun
Christ’s servants are like the moon which borrows its light from the sun and gives light only indirectly to the world. It often comes between the sun and the earth, and causes an eclipse of the sun. So the unworthy lives of His servants often come between Him and the world, and cause His face to be hidden from men.
Ways of Worship and Work
In Chicago, another clergyman asked me: “What do you think is the best method of worship and of work?” I answered him, “Whatever methods we may use, the main thing is to worship God in spirit and in truth. In the East when people go to the place of worship they take off their shoes, in the West they take off their hats. But spirit and truth depend on neither shoes nor hats, nor on feet, nor on heads, but on hearts. About work—that method is best which depends not on man’s appointment but on God’s call. The sects have in them insects, whose whole time is wasted in emphasising defects in other sects, and they leave out of their reckoning the Living Christ who is the fact of facts. The great need is that we should be true witnesses of Him and give our witness out of our experience. God does not want false witness, or the ‘doctrines of devils,’ and they who give such witness hurt rather than benefit themselves (Luke iv. 34-35; Acts xix. 15-16). Those who know only about Christ but do not know Him may still preach ‘with the tongues of men and of angels,’ but witness can be given only by those who know Him from their personal experience.”
Recognition of God
Before we can know God it is necessary that our spiritual powers and inner senses which have been deadened by sin should be stirred to new life. One bitterly cold day a blind man was trying to read his Braille Bible, but his finger tips were so numbed that he could not make out a single word. He went to the fire and began to rub his hands. In a few minutes the circulation returned, and he was able to read. In this way, in prayer and meditation, the fire of God’s Holy Spirit quickens and warms our inner senses and we are able to feel Him and to enjoy His presence.
Unmediated Revelations
When we are born anew and become the children of God, the Spirit of God, without the help of any language, teaches and reveals spiritual truth to us. When we are born of the Spirit the language of the Spirit becomes our mother tongue, and we can understand it as easily as a child understands its mother tongue. We convey our meaning by means of words of a worldly language, but spiritual man can understand spiritual truths without the words of any language to help him. For example, if we teach a child whose mother tongue is English the word for God in Sanskrit, we tell him that Iswara means God, but before that time the idea which the word God connotes had come into his mind without the medium of words. Where did that idea come from? The blind deaf mute, Helen Keller, says that she knew God before she knew His name in any human language. If this knowledge had not been immediately revealed, where did it come from?
Seeds in the Dark
As soon as a man is born again and becomes a child of God, his life and conduct are changed from what they were before, and at once the world thinks him strange and foolish and begins to oppose or persecute him (John xv. 19; 2 Tim. iii. 12). Besides this opposition of the world he must pass through many other kinds of trouble (Acts xiv. 22; 2 Cor. xii. 7-10), for it is God’s will that he should reach perfection through sufferings. Had these troubles and struggles not been good for us, God would have cleared them out of our lives, but they are useful for our growth in grace, therefore He has left us to struggle against them. If God does not want us to be free from sorrows and suffering which are altogether for our own good, why should we wish to be freed from them? Look at a grain of wheat sown in the ground. Day after day it struggles upwards in darkness till at last the blade shoots out above the ground into that light and heat which help it to become fruitful. So it is with man.
Dying and Living
As, in the world night lasts in some places for only a few hours, and in other places for several months, so there are always seasons of joy and of sorrow to be found in our lives, and all of us must at least pass through the “valley of the shadow of death.” Those who in their lives bear the Cross may truly say “we die but behold we live” (2 Cor. vi. 9), and, as the tree, which in winter loses its leaves and seems to be dying, in spring is infused again with new life and once more shoots out its leaves, so Christians in time of persecution seem to be ready to die, but again and yet again do their lives revive. In spite of all their sufferings “their lives are hid with Christ in God.” As the Gulf Stream flowing up from the warm waters of the Tropics saves the coast of Europe from the rigor of a bitter winter, so God’s Spirit flowing through the lives of true Christians keeps them always in the glow of spiritual health and happiness.
Joy in Sorrow
The lives of true Christians who live in Christ may be bowed down by sorrow because of the world’s persecution, yet this sorrow is not enough to crush them, for, in the midst of it all, they soon become conscious that the Living Christ is with them, and their sorrow is “turned into joy” (John xvi. 20). This does not mean that on account of sorrow, or after sorrow is over, joy is bound to come; but here lies a truth that is deeper than the world can ever fathom: that in the midst of the sorrow itself there comes a wonderful joy. Though all that the world thinks necessary to joy may be taken away, yet this wonderful joy no one can take away from them. Not one or two, but millions of martyrs have proved in their lives the truth that His “yoke is easy” and His “burden light,” and have witnessed to the fact in a miraculous way. True peace comes while the yoke is actually on them, and not when it has been taken off. The world has no experience of this great miracle, nor can it believe it.
Artificial and Real Joy
Men in their folly use intoxicants, not only to forget their sorrow but also to get a passing exhilaration and joy. They have not even enough discrimination to know that while a pleasurable effect is obtained from these transitory stimulants, the joy to be found in Him Who has created these things must greatly transcend these pleasures and be more lasting. If they could once taste the true joy of the fulness of His presence, they would never again waste their precious time in seeking artificial pleasure in transient created things.
A Converted Drunkard
The foolishness of the world and the reality of Christ’s presence in us will be seen in this incident. A man called Moti Lal, when under the influence of drink, used to do all kinds of absurd and evil things. Some of his neighbours were rather pleased with his exploits and used to applaud him for them. Though he was in no way inclined to associate with Christians, he once went to stay with a true child of God, and there the pure goodness of the life of his friend so influenced him that his life was completely changed. When his neighbours and relatives saw how greatly he was changed, they became angry and began to persecute him, saying: “Now he has polluted himself and has forsaken all religion.” He replied: “I am amazed at you; when I was a drunkard and really was polluted you did not object to me. Now that I have repented of my evil life and been saved from it by Christ, you say I have polluted myself.”
When they saw that nothing they could say would make him forsake his faith in Christ, they put him out from his caste and from his home. He raised no complaint or lamentation, but with joy in his heart praised God and began to pray for his brethren. Then he set out across the river to another town. The river at that point was very wide and the ferry had hardly reached the middle when a heavy squall capsized it. Several passengers were drowned and Moti Lal saved himself only by swimming to the other bank.
Now, between what he had lost when driven away from home and what he had lost in the river, he had only a few rupees left, and these were soon taken from him by a band of robbers in the jungle where he had landed. Stripped of home, friends, and money, he was now alone in the world. Had he been without that new and uplifting experience of the Living Christ he would have been crushed. Outwardly all was gone, but that peace and consciousness of the presence of his Lord none could take from him. He told his story to the robbers and they were greatly affected. Then, full of joy and peace of heart, and with tears in his eyes, he said to the robbers: “All has been taken from me, but no one can take away from me the real riches which I have in Christ.”
When the robbers heard this, they returned his rupees to him, and he set off to the town. There he stayed and earned his living by his labor and, as far as he was able, continued to bear witness for Christ.
A Christian Lady
A Christian lady, who gave much of her time to the Lord’s service, fell sick and became a confirmed invalid, being confined to her bed for eighteen years. Her dear ones sympathised deeply with her in the heavy cross she had to bear and attended to her with love and patience. Her chief regret was that now she had no opportunity of serving the Lord, and she grieved both over the thought of how much she could have done had she been strong, and also of what a burden she now was to others. But though she did not know it, she was influencing others by her life of prayer more, perhaps, than she could have done had she been strong. She lay on her bed like a beautiful and sweet-scented flower. People who came to visit and comfort her used themselves to get comfort from her and have their lives made fragrant by her sweetness.
An Agnostic
So greatly did this quiet influence make itself felt that a man who denied the truth of Christianity and who saw her lying there year after year in peace and happiness began to think that there must be some deep reality in her life, for no mere uninformed faith or imagination could ever have given her peace for such a length of time. Then, with renewed interest, he began again to study the Gospels and the life of Christ, and after a time he was convinced of their truth. He went to the lady and said: “It is unlikely that I should ever have believed in the saving power of our Living Lord and in the truth of Christianity in any other way than by seeing it in your life. I was stirred neither by beautiful sermons nor by the convincing arguments of theologians; but the miracle of your wonderful Christian life has been for me the strongest of all arguments, and is a living and convincing proof before which my philosophical arguments cannot stand. You are wrong when you think that if you had been healthy you would have done more work, for, if that had been true, God would have given you health. But in this weakness, you are doing a service you could not have done in any other way. Do not consider this a sickness, but a way of service that is better for you than all others. This is no bed of death, but a proof of the manifestation of eternal life in Christ.” When the lady saw this fresh proof that her sickness, like the death of Lazarus, was a means of glorifying God, then her already wonderful joy was still further increased. Thus did her heavy cross prove to be a blessing to herself and to many others.
An Armenian Pastor
A few weeks ago I had a letter from an Armenian pastor. He had been one of those present at the massacres of the Armenians a few years ago. He wrote, “Thousands of true Christians were murdered before my eyes, and I myself was seriously wounded and left for dead. That was a fearful and heart-rending sight, but at the same time it was mingled with great joy. Though men and women, old and young, were being butchered with great cruelty, and with no mercy, yet the power of the Living Christ was manifest in every life. Even the murderers were amazed when they saw it. Strength was given to us according to our need. Some of us saw Christ and angels quite clearly and with great joy commended our souls to His keeping. In truth, it was not a day of assassination, but a wedding-day. I wish I had been taken away with the multitude of those martyrs; but still I thank God for this, that for a little further service He extricated me from among the martyrs, and had me taken to a place where in a few days my wound was healed, and I was again ready for work.”
Another Armenian friend also wrote of a similar experience to this through which he had passed, but it is not necessary to quote his letter here.
Many other wonderful incidents could be put forth in proof of the truth and reality of the Christian life. In practically every nation and people there are men and women who live their lives with Christ, and whose lives are made fruitful with innumerable blessings which they receive from Him. What a real comfort it is for His people to know His life-giving presence, and to have experienced in their lives the truth of His precious promise, “Lo, I am with you always”!
తెలుగులో సారాంశం
క్రీస్తులో జీవించి, ఆ జీవితం ఫలించిన విశ్వాసుల గురించి ఈ అధ్యాయం. స్వార్థమే ఆత్మ అశాంతికి మూలమని చెబుతూ, ధనంపై నమ్మకం, లోకాన్ని సరిగ్గా వాడుకోవడం, ప్రార్థన–పని సమతుల్యత వంటి అంశాలను సుందర్ సింగ్ చర్చిస్తారు. క్రీస్తు సేవకులు సూర్యకాంతిని ప్రతిబింబించే చంద్రుని వంటివారని, కానీ అయోగ్యమైన జీవితాలు గ్రహణంలా క్రీస్తు ముఖాన్ని లోకానికి కప్పివేస్తాయని హెచ్చరిస్తారు. మద్యపానం నుండి మారి, ఇల్లు, కులం, డబ్బు అన్నీ కోల్పోయినా క్రీస్తులో శాంతి నిలుపుకున్న మోతీ లాల్; పద్దెనిమిదేళ్లు మంచానికే పరిమితమై, తన ప్రార్థనా జీవితంతో ఒక సందేహవాదిని క్రీస్తు వద్దకు నడిపించిన ఒక క్రైస్తవ స్త్రీ; ఆర్మేనియన్ హత్యాకాండ మధ్య "ఇది హత్యల దినం కాదు, పెళ్లి దినం" అని సాక్ష్యమిచ్చిన ఒక పాస్టర్ — వీరి కథలు ఈ అధ్యాయంలో ఉన్నాయి.