Series Poetry
P-26
By His death upon the cross,
"The just for the unjust",
Jesus answers the eternally vital question of how a guilty sinner may find forgiveness
and acceptance in the eyes of a righteous God. And thus it was that Mozart was
moved to write
"Forever God, forever man,
My Jesus shall endure.
And fixed on Him my hope remains
Eternally secure."
In fact, it was said of Mozart that he brought the angels down and of Beethoven, that he lifted mortals up. The praise God, Jesus does both and more.
"He is God's
way to man and man's way to God. He is the only true and effective Jacob's ladder
between heaven and earth."
From "The Preacher"
****
P-27
"Our Lord, our life, our rest, our shield.
Our rock, our food, our light,
Each thought of Thee doth constant yield
Unchanging, fresh delight."
****
P-28
THE BRIDGE OF THE CROSS
A Savior not quite God is a bridge broken at the farther end."-- Bishop of Durham.
"Man fain
would build a bridge to God
Across the fathomless abyss
That lies between his earth-bound soul
And heaven's perfect bliss.
"He takes
his knowledge, small and vague,
The great inventions he has wrought,
His mightiest efforts, finest plans,
And his profoundest thought:
"He binds
them with his strands of straw,
His strings of tow, his ropes of sand,
With all the power and the skill
Of cunning brain and hand.
"Through swirling
mists he strains his eye,
Above the unseen torrent's roar
He pushes forth the makeshift thing
And hopes to touch the shore.
"But when
he seeks to cross the chasm
With eager heart and step elate,
He finds his bridge too short to reach,
Too frail to bear his weight.
"Oh, baseless
dream! Oh, useless toil!
Oh, utter and eternal loss!
For God has laid, to span the void,
His Son upon the cross.
"And when
man's broken bridges fall,
And sink into the gulf at last,
Still wide and long and safe and strong,
The bridge of God stands fast." Annie Johnson Flint
****
P-29
Do you know that old, oft-quoted Christmas verse:
"Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born
If He's not born in thee
Thy soul is still forlorn."
Well, there's another
stanza to that poem, equally true, but much less known and much less quoted:
"The cross of Golgotha
Will never save thy soul,
The cross in thine own heart
Alone can make thee whole."
And that's what Jesus meant when He said:
"If anyone would follow me, let him take up his cross."
And what is that
cross? It is the cross of personal experience on which you are crucified to
self in order that you might be alive to God.
From "The Pulpit"
****
P-30
Simon of Cyrene bore
The cross of Jesus - nothing more.
His name is never
heard again,
Nor honored by historic pen.
Upon the pedestal of fame
His image courts no loud acclaim.
Simon of Cyrene
bore
The cross of Jesus - nothing more.
When my life's
work is done
And golden beams life's setting sun
I'll ask naught
of wealth and fame,
Or that men may loudly sing my name
But in my heart I humbly pray
Dear Father, let
my record say
Upon the page divine,
He bore
The cross of Jesus - nothing more.
From "The People"
****
P-34
"Let there be light", God said.
And lo, from out of the chasm of the deep
The darkness fled.
Dismayed before the One
Whose brightness
Outshines the noonday sun.
And dawn came out of darkest night
When God, sweeping down across the chaos said:
"Let there be light."
"Let there be light", God said.
And lo, from out my dismal heart
The darkness fled.
From bondage I was free.
I only looked to Calvary,
Saw One, and loved Him.
Thus I gained my sight
When God, sweeping down across my heart said:
"Let there
by light."
From "I Am the Light of
the World"
****
P-35
John Henry Newman was a young man of rare and magnetic gifts. His ministry in
the Church of Oxford, England, was a blessing to countless lives. His biographer
says his preaching was like "a fine strain of heavenly music" and
affected his hearers deeply with his charm and religious power.
In 1833, when Newman was 32 years old, his labors brought on a prolonged illness and he was forced to take several months off for rest. During this time, perplexed by doubts and uncertainties, he wandered over Europe.
He became more and more distraught and finally, in a fit of extreme anxiety, rushed from port to port trying to get a boat back to England. After a long wait, he succeeded in getting passage on an orange boat from Sicily. But, to his dismay, the vessel was soon becalmed in fog just off shore and, for a week, made little progress.
During this period of enforced quiet Newman, still ill and perplexed by his inner conflicts, found the peace for which he had been longing. And out of the serenity of soul which Christ gave him in those trying hours, he wrote a prayer which he entitled, "Light in Darkness."
"Lead, kindly
light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead thou me on.
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene;
One step is enough for me.
"I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
Shouldest lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead me thou on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will;
Remember not past years.
"So long thy
power hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, 'til
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since,
and lost a while."
The light of leading. How bright it shines! And, if in the darkness of our night
of despair we have the good sense to follow, Jesus, The light Of The World,
will lead us too.
What more, then, can I say?
"If God be
for us, who can be against us?" (Rom 8:31b).
This light of the world is inextinguishable. For 2000 years it has been shining,
and all of the darkness which hell can muster has not been able to put it out.
Darkness may have its day, but Jesus is eternal. In the blackest hour of life, when the candles of human wisdom, human hope and human love have flickered and failed, Jesus Christ remains. And He has promised:
"I am the light of the world. He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life."
This morning, this
guiding light can be yours if only you will receive it. May God give you the
wisdom and grace to do so.
From "I Am the Light of
the World"
****
P-36
"For none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed
Or how dark was the night the Lord passed through
'Ere He found the sheep that was lost."
"I am the
Good Shepherd", said Jesus, and "the Good Shepherd lays down His life
for the sheep."
From " I Am the Good Shepherd"
****
P-37
Annie Johnson Flint suffered with arthritis for 40 years. But that terrible
affliction did not embitter her. And out of the crucible of her suffering came
a new and beautiful understanding of the meaning of guidance expressed in these
lovely words:
"He giveth more grace when the burden grows greater,
He giveth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.
"When we have
exhausted our store of endurance,
When faith seems to fail, 'ere the day is half-done;
When we come to the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
"His love
has no limits, His grace has no Measure,
His power no boundary known unto men:
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!"
From " I Am the Good Shepherd"
****
P-38
"He died," saith the cross. "My very name
Was a hated thing and a word of shame,
But since Christ died on my arms outspread
With nails in His hands and thorns on His head
They do not measure...set high, flung wide...
The measureless love of the crucified."
"He arose,"
saith the tomb. "I was dark and drear,
And the sound of My name wove a spell of fear.
But the Lord of Life in My depths hath lain
To break death's power and rend His chain,
And a light streams forth from my open door,
For the Lord is risen...He dies no more."
No wonder Paul could say:
"Death, where
is thy sting; grave, where is thy victory?"
In Christ, the terror is only make believe! In Christ, it is
"absent from
the body and present with the Lord" (2 Cor.5:8).
From " I Am the Resurrection
and the Life"
****
P-39
The other day I came across a bit of poetry which illustrates beautifully want
I've just said. It's a story about a girl who works is a travel bureau and tells
others of the fascination of far away places...places which she herself has
never seen and probably will never see.
"All day long she sits behind a bright brass rail
Planning proud journeyings with words that bring
Far places near...high colored words that sing...
The Taj Mahal at Agra...Kashmir's veil
Spinning wide spaces with clear detail.
Seville or Paris
in the Spring.
And through the fjords in June...her words take wing
For she is the minstrel of the great out-trail.
At half-past five
she puts her maps away.
Puts on a meek gray hat and braves the sleet
A timid eye on traffic. Dark gray
The house in which she lives sitting on a dark gray street.
The close, sequestered, colorless retreat
Where she was born, where she will always stay."
It's not enough that you speak of the Christian journey, my friend. You must make it. In the words of Jesus--you must be born again.
The way is simple. First of all, you must realize your need. You must realize that you have sinned against God, yourself and others, and that you desperately need a savior.
Then you must recognize the sufficiency of Christ to meet your need. If you and I were in a boating accident, I couldn't swim, and you pulled me safely to shore, then you would be my savior. You would have done for me what I could not do myself. By going to a cross and dying in your place, the just for the unjust, and by rising again into everlasting glory, Jesus has qualified Himself to be your savior. He has done for you what you cannot do for yourself.
And then along with realizing your need and recognizing the sufficiency of Christ to meet your need, you must receive Him. You must invite Him into your heart.
Have you ever done that? Would you like to do it now? If so, bow your head and there, within the sanctuary of your own soul, quietly pray this prayer along with me!...
Dear God,
I know that I have
sinned and need a Savior. I believe Jesus can save me. I now accept Him as my
Savior. Help me live a Christian life, so I can lead others to Jesus, too. Amen.
From " I Am the Resurrection
and the Life"
****
P-44
"Each soul must face some Sinai as Moses sought of old
And find immortal music writ on slabs of living gold.
Each soul must
seek some Sinai, some high flung mountain peak
Where he may hear the thunder roll and timeless voices speak.
Each soul must
seek some Sinai, some secret place apart
Where he may be alone with God and newborn kingdoms chart.
Each soul must
seek some Sinai, where God's own voice is heard
And he may see the mystic sign and hear the secret word."
From "To Father's House
We Go"
****
P-45
How much more real worship would be if we were to strive to develop the spirit
of Bertha Gerneaux Woods when, in her lovely poem "Prayer On Entering Church",
she writes:
"In this little hour we
Spend in fellowship with Thee
Search us, keenly Lord, we pray,
Lest we leave Thy House today
Through our stubbornness unfed
By the true and living bread.
Lest we know not that we thirst,
Selfishness that
we have nursed
Through the years, Oh blessed Lord,
Smite it with Thy two edged sword.
Make us over. Make us kind.
Let no lonely stranger find
Lack of friendly hand clasp, or
Pass unwelcomed through the door.
Let the whole week sweeter be
For this hour we spend with Thee.
From "To Father's House
We Go"
****
P-46
Georgia Harkness, a prolific poetess whose works have brought untold blessing
to uncounted hearts, has put it this way:
"Be still and know
That God is in His world,
Though clouds shut out the light,
Though ghoulish specters stalk,
And all is night.
"Be still
and know
That God is in His world,
Though mammon clamors loud,
And Mars lifts flashing steel,
Untamed and proud.
"Be still
and know
That God is in His world,
Though men with reckless waste
May seek they know not what
In feverish haste.
"Be still
and know
That God is in His world.
God speaks, but none may hear
That voice except he have
A listening ear."
****
P-47
Charles Henson Towne phrased it this way:
"I do not need to shout my faith,
Thrice eloquent are quiet trees
And the green, listening sod;
Hushed are the stars,
Whose power is never spent;
The hills are mute;
Yet how they speak of God!"
****
P-48
Let it be a time when you say with Bishop John Oxenham
"Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoil without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein:
"A little
shrine of quietness,
All sacred to thyself,
Where thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself."
****
P-49
A soldier boy, who had known this refreshing and refilling of the power of God
through many harrowing experiences in the War, wrote a little chorus which was
a challenge and affirmation all in one:
"Got any rivers
you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible
And He will do what no other one can do."
How do we get that
power? By daily celebrating The Sacrament Of Silence.
****
P-50
There must be those luminous hours when the soul of the Christian is swept into
the stratosphere of the Spirit. Every one must have those high moments which
Tennyson describes so vividly in The Holy Grail.
"And then
streamed through my cell
A cold a silver beam,
And down the beam stole the Holy Grail,
Red rose with beadings in it, as if alive,
'Til all the white walls of my cell were
Dyed with rosy colors leaping on the wall;
And then the music faded, and the Grail passed,
And the beam decayed, and from the walls
The rosy, quivering died into the night."
There is a place
in our religion for such holy experiences as that. But if our moments of reverie
are not translated immediately into an attempt at worthy living, then the incense
of our worship becomes a stench in the nostrils of God. "Why call ye Me
Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say."
From "You Hold the Answer
to Your Prayers"
****
P-51
"Who builds a church within his heart
Who takes it with him everywhere,
Is holier far than he whose church
Is but a one-day house of prayer."
From "When the Service
Begins"
****
P-52
We cherish the moments of calm we experience when we are alone with God. We
all have a tendency to say with Samuel Gregg, as he writes about the three disciples'
reaction to the transfiguration of our Lord:
"Stay, Master, stay upon this heavenly hill;
A little longer
let us linger still;
With all the mighty ones of old beside,
Near to God's holy presence still abide..."
Yes, all of us
long for those high moments of the soul and we are loath to leave them. But,
"No," sayeth the Master, "the hour's past, we go;
Our home, our life, our duty lies below;
While here we kneel upon the mountain prayer,
The plow lies waiting in the furrow there.
Here we sought God that we might know His will,
There we must do it, serve Him, seek Him still."
From "When the Service
Begins"
****
P-61
"The love of God
How rich and pure!
How measureless and strong.
It shall forevermore endure,
The saints' and angels' song.
"Could we
with ink the oceans fill,
And were the sky of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade.
"To write
the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky."
Love, Love of God,
From
"Fact, Faith and Feeling"
****
P-62
Indeed! God loves you with an unfailing love.
"Tenderly He watches over you.
Every step, every mile of the way.
As a mother watches o'er her baby,
He is near you every hour of the day.
"When you're
weak, when you're strong,
When you're right, when you're wrong.
In your joy, in your pain;
When you lose, and when you gain.
Tenderly He watches o'er you,
Every step, every mile of the way."
It's been said
that all rivers stop when they reach the ocean. All but one! And that is the
river of God's love. It didn't stop when it reached the ocean,
but it flowed on and on and on
until it swept into your heart.
With limitless compassion and concern Gods love has been and is directed toward
you.
From "Fact, Faith and Feeling"
****
P-63
"O soul of mine, though others fail,
Thy God around thee stands;
The Waker of the universe
Holds thee in His strong hands.
"Thy faintest
sigh, each falling tear,
He marks that He may cast
His compensation 'round the life
Of thee, whom He holds fast.
"Dwell deep
then, ever deep, in God;
Rest in His love and wait;
In days to come He will explain
Life's riddles, small and great.
"Now is the
time to trust, in heaven,
Faith's mission will be passed,
Merged into sight, there to behold
The one who held you fast."
From "Fact, Faith and Feeling"
****
P-64
"The world is dying
For a little bit of love.
Everywhere men are crying
For a little bit of love.
For the love that rights the wrong,
For the love that brings a song.
They have waited, oh so long,
For a little bit of love."
From "Let's Try the Thing
We Haven't Tried"
****
P-65
How much better off all of us would be if we followed the wisdom of Edwin Markham
who said:
"He drew a circle and shut me out,
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout;
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a circle and took him in."
From "Let's Try the Thing
We Haven't Tried"
****
P-66
"How many, many things He will forget;
Our every sin, both great and small;
and yet he will remember and reward
The smallest service done for our dear Lord.
Divine forgetfulness, unfathomed grace,
And love which knows no bounds of time or space."
P-90
Man is somebody, Jesus said. He is the object of God's love. No wonder then,
that overawed by Christ's astonishing estimate of the incredible worth of man,
the poet put his pen to parchment and in a sense of wonder wrote:
"My God, what
is a man,
That thou shouldst love him so,
Pouring upon him all thy love,
As if thou hadst nothing else to do?"
From "Get Rid of that Inferiority Complex"
****
P-93
"When the great business plants of our city
Shall have turned out their last finished work;
When the merchants have sold their last order
And dismissed every last tired clerk;
When our banks have raked in their last dollar
And have paid their last dividend;
When the Judge of the earth wants a hearing
And asks for a balance -- what then?
"When the
choir has sung its last anthem
And the preacher has voiced his last prayer;
When the people have heard their last sermon
And the sound has died out of the air;
When the Bible lies closed on the altar
And the pews are all empty of man;
When each one stands facing his record
And the Great Book is open -- what then?"
From "The Dark Line In
God's Face"
****
P-94
There isn't one of us who hasn't joined the poet in his prayer:
"Oh tell me, secret heart,
Is there no resting place
Is there no happy spot
Where griefs may find a balm,
And weariness a rest?
Faith, hope and love -- best boons to mortals given --
Wave their bright wings and whisper:
"Yes, in heaven!"
****
Annie Johnson Flint,
who has become known as the poet of peace, was smitten with a combination of
terrible diseases including arthritis. And yet, out of forty years of suffering
she could write with painfully distorted hands:
"But I looked up into the face of Jesus,
And there my heart found rest, my fears were stilled.
For there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,
Perfect peace, and every hope fulfilled."
****
There's a beautiful
old hymn I love very much. It goes like this:
"Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight,
Flows a melody sweeter than psalm,
In celestial-like strains it unceasingly falls
O'er my soul like an infinite calm."
"Peace, peace
wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above.
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray,
With fathomless billows of love."
This is your legacy. This is Christ's bequest to you. Have you claimed your inheritance of peace?
From
"Living Your Legacy"
****
When it comes to
the ladder of prayer, I'm still on the bottom wrung. But I've learned it makes
a mighty big difference if I begin the day with God. Ralph S. Cushman put it
this way:
"I met God in the morning
When the day was at its best,
And his presence came like sunrise
With a glory in my breast.
All day long his
presence lingered,
All day long he stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O'er a very troubled sea.
Other ships were
blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seem to drive them,
Brought to us both peace and rest.
Then I thought
of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I, too, had loosed the moorings
With his presence left behind.
So I think I know
the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way:
You must seek him in the morning,
If you want him through the day."
Prayer is like the main spring of a watch. It provides the power, the impetus, the wherewithal to meet the exigencies of the day.
From
"Prayer Can Change Your Life"
****
Ruth Graham, the wife of the famous evangelist, recognized the necessity of including God in marriage long before she met Billy. And, in a moment of radiant inspiration she penned this lovely poem -
"Dear God,"
I prayed, all unafraid
As girls are wont to be.
"I do not want a handsome man,
But let him be like thee.
I do not need one
big and strong
Nor one so very tall,
Nor need he be some genius,
Or wealthy, Lord, at all.
But let his face
have character,
A ruggedness of soul,
And let his whole life show, dear God,
A singleness of goal."
From
"Three to Get Married"
****
Having said that, may I end on this note. Sex in the Bible is never sex, it is always knowledge. Again and again, as the Bible speaks of the marriage relationship, we read, "He knew his wife." Need I remind you that such knowledge does not come overnight? Such perfection of mutual understanding does not happen in the few moments it takes to repeat the marriage vows.
Even as it requires years to build a true and lasting friendship, so too, a bride and groom can expect it will take years to perfect their knowledge of each other. That kind of knowledge which comes through a gradual increasing of intimacy until finally, in one grand and glorious, mysterious and majestic amalgation of body and soul, they become that perfect oneness which God ordained and planned and blessed from the very beginning. It's in order then, for each of us who is married, to turn to that one whom God set apart especially for us, and out of a depth of love and understanding beyond anything we have experienced before, join the poet in this sacred pledge -
"Because God
made thee mine, I'll cherish thee
Through light and darkness, through all time to be,
And pray His love may make our love Divine,
Because, God made thee mine."
***
For that reason
it's absolutely necessary for a person to build a self with which he or she
can live with peace.
"I have to live with myself and so,
I want to be fit for myself to know.
I want to be able as the days go by
To always look myself straight in the eye.
I don't want to stand at the setting sun
And hate myself for the things I have done.
I don't want to
keep on the closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking no one else will know
The kind of man I really am.
I don't want to dress myself up in a sham.
I never can hide
myself from me.
I see what others may never see.
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself and so
Whatever happens I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free."
From
"How to Handle Guilt"
****
For years the city of London had one of the finest and most efficient sewerage
systems in the world. Recently they developed an even better one. But, in decades
past, a sludge vessel would take the vile, refined poison from the sewerage
plants and carry it out to one of the deepest parts of the ocean. The vile poison
was dumped into the sea and yet, within twenty minutes, the water which a moment
ago was so poisonous a drop of it would kill a person were it placed on his
tongue, is as clean and clear and pure as any in the ocean.
What a vivid illustration
of the cleansing power of God's forgiveness. For he has said, "I will cast
your sin into the depth of the sea."
"Oh, how many things he will forget,
Our every sin, both great and small, and yet
He will remember and reward
The smallest service done for our dear Lord.
Divine forgetfulness,
Unfathomed grace
And love which knows no bounds
Of time and space."
From
"How to Handle Guilt"
****
"So let me
draw you to the great forgiveness,
Not as one who stoops to save you.
Not as one who stands aside with counsel,
Nay, as one who says, 'I, too, was poisoned
With the flower that stings! But now, arisen,
I struggle up the path beside you.
Come! Let us face the heights together."
From
"How to Handle Guilt"
****
Christianity is not an opiate. It does not put the soul to sleep and take the fight out of people. Jesus deliberately picked men whose emotions ran deep. He wanted people of temper. He wanted men of fashion. He wanted men who are capable of torrential emotion. Such stormy souls are also of tremendous discipleship.
Margritte Wilkison
put it this way --
"The white sheep are placed,
Feed in quiet places;
Their fleece are like silver
That the moon has known.
But the black sheep have vigor,
In their ugly faces.
And the best of all shepherds,
Wants them for his own."
You say you have a temper and would like to be rid of it so you can be a Christian? Well, remember, as I have said, you will be of little use to God without your temper. He already has too many disciples who have lost their capacity for clean anger and holy indignation.
Jesus wants you with your temper. He wants to bridle it. Harness it. Channel it. He wants to use it in the building of his Kingdom.
From
"How to Stop Going from Mad to Worse"
****
"Lord, help
me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray,
My prayer shall be for others.
Help me in everything
I do
Ever to be kind and true
For that which I would do for you
Must needs be done for others.
And when my work
on earth is done
And my new work in heaven begun
May I forget the crown I've won
In thinking still of others.
Others, Lord, yes
others.
Let this my motto be --
Help me to live for others
And thus to live for thee."
From
"How to Experience a Glowing Life"
****
"Only night
can yield the silent wonder of a star,
The breathless sweep of meteors in flight.
The ruby's fire and the diamond's
Clear white flame once burned in darkness.
And the great moth's wings with colors
That never knew a name,
Emerged from darkness, glorious lifted things.
And so dear heart, whatever be the depth
Of thy despair, wait patiently,
For God has set aside his treasures
For your strength and comfort there.
A star of hope, faith's wings, his love's pure gold
And there revealed his hand for you to hold."
From
"The Rainbow and the Rain"
****
All hymnology is not good theology, but there is no escaping the truth of that wonderful old gospel song, "Trust and Obey."
"When we walk
with the Lord
In the light of his word
What a glory he sheds on our way.
When we do his good will
He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
Edwin Markham put
it this way --
"We are blind until we see
That in the human plan
Nothing is worth the making if
It does not make the man.
Why build these cities glorious
If man unbuilt goes
In vain we build the world, unless
The builder also grows."
From
"The Dynamic of a Desperate Desire"
****
One day a rather skeptical, speculative student stopped the great scientist and experimentalist, Sir Humphrey Davey. He wanted to talk about a new theory he was working on, and said, "I wonder if . . ." Before he could go on, Professor Davey said, "Stop speculating. Go try!"
That's the answer!
You will never prove Christ true while you linger around the periphery. You
will never experience his redeeming love out there on the margins of faith.
Try him! Test him! Submit him to the scrutiny of your own investigation within
the laboratory of your immortal soul. As someone has said, "The best angle
by which to measure anything is the t-r-y angle."
"The world is weary of new tracks of thought
That lead to naught.
Sick of quack remedies prescribed in vain
For mortal pain.
But still above them all one figure stands
With outstretched hands,
One message sounds above the strife,
'I am the way, the truth, and the life.'"
From
"If Your Heart Keeps Right"
****
Yes, people are still persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Oh, the techniques are more sophisticated. The enemies of Christ no longer burn Christians at the stake. They no longer feed Christians to the lions. But the effect is just the same, and the pain is just as real.
Studdert-Kennedy describes the technique in a poem which compares the nails of Calvary to the type of treatment Christ would likely meet in a city like our own.
"When Jesus
came to Golgotha,
They nailed him to a tree.
They drove great nails through hands and feet
And made a Calvary.
They crowned him with a crown of thorns,
Red were his wounds and deep.
For those were crude and cruel days,
And human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came
to (Morgan Park),
They simply passed him by.
They never hurt a hair of him,
They only let him die.
For men had grown more tender,
And they would not give him pain.
They only just passed down the street,
And left him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried,
'Forgive them,
For they know not what they do.'
And still it rained the winter rain
That drenched him through and through.
The crowds went home and left the streets
Without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall
And cried for Calvary."
What Studdert-Kennedy is saying is that if Jesus had to choose, he would prefer the physical torture of a cross to the emotional torture of indifference.
From
"Triumph in Trouble"
****
"I would be
true, for there are those who trust me.
I would be pure, for there are those who care.
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer.
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be friend
to all, the foe, the friendless.
I would be giving, and forget the gift.
I would be humble, for I know my weakness.
I would look up, and laugh, and love, and lift."
From
"Triumph in Trouble"
****
Bishop John Oxnan
comes at it this way,
"To every man there openeth a way,
And ways and a way.
And the high soul takes the high
And the low soul takes the low.
While in between on the misty flats
The rest drift to and fro.
But to every man
there openeth
A high way and a low.
And every man decideth which way
His soul shall go."
From
"Putting Life in True Perspective"
****
In that regard, I think it would be well for us to remember, Jesus' story of
the "ninety and nine."
'Twas a sheep, not a lamb, that strayed away
In the parable Jesus told.
A grown-up sheep that had gone astray
From the ninety and nine in the fold.
Out on the hillside,
out in the cold,
'Twas a sheep the good shepherd sought.
And back to the flock, safe in the fold,
'Twas a sheep the good shepherd brought.
And why for the
sheep should we earnestly long,
And so earnestly hope and pray?
Because there's danger, if they go wrong,
They will lead the lambs astray.
The lambs will
follow the sheep, you know,
Wherever the sheep may stray.
When the sheep go wrong, it will not be long
'Till the lambs are as wrong as they.
And so with the
sheep, we earnestly plead
For the sake of the lambs today.
If the lambs are lost, what a terrible cost
Some sheep will have to pay.
From
"On Putting Parents in Their Place"
****
Caught up in the
wonder of this incredible inheritance, the apostle Paul, who had been stoned,
beaten, shipwrecked, robbed, imprisoned, lost in the wilderness, and finally
killed, said,
"I recognize that the sufferings of this present time are not to be compared
to the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).
On another occasion,
while a prisoner of Nero, bound by chains, broken by circumstances, threatened
by death, Paul put his pen to parchment and wrote the church at Phillippi a
letter extolling the goodness and mercy and grace of God. After listing the
joyous provisions which God had made for those who are his own, Paul climaxed
it by saying,
"But my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus."
Oh my friend, here
is the solving word for those periods of discouragement and despondency which
try to overcome you. Here is the answer to those tragic and troublesome circumstances
which often surround you. Trials may beset you, troubles may oppress you, temptations
may distress you, but here is the heart and hand of Almighty God reaching out
to supply your every need. As the poet has said,.
"Tenderly he watches over you
Every step, every mile of the way.
As a mother watches o'er her baby,
He is with you every hour of the day.
When you're weak,
when you're strong;
When you're right, when you're wrong;
In your joy or your pain,
When you lose or when you gain.
Tenderly he watches
over you
Every step, every mile of the way."
From
"Remember Who You Are"
****
During the eleven years of my ministry I have counseled with literally hundreds of people. I have heard confessions of dope addiction, embezzlement, cowardice, adultery and even murder. But never once in eleven years had anyone confessed that they were guilty of the sin of gossip.
We have surrounded this sin with a facade of self-righteousness and derived so much emotional satisfaction from committing it we simply refuse to reckon with the shattering effect it has upon the poor person against whom we launch the arrows of our acquisitions.
There is no more
devastating, dastardly or disastrous deed we can perpetuate against a brother
or sister than to undermine his or her good name. There is no such thing as
"idle rumor." "Harmless gossip" just does not exist. As
the poet declares so clearly --
"A whisper broke the air,
A soft light tone, and low
Yet barbed with shame and woe;
Now, might it only perish there,
Nor further go!
But no! A quick
and eager ear
Caught up the little-meaning sound.
Another voice has breathed it clear,
And so it wandered round,
From ear to lip, from lip to ear,
Until it reached a gentle heart,
And that -- it broke."
From "The Tongue, a Tiny
Tyrant"
****
This morning I
would like to suggest that you think a good long thought about the therapy of
thankfulness. I know of no quicker or more lasting cure for the debilitating
disease of covetousness and discontent than an attitude of gratitude. Do you
remember the old hymn? --
"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."
Well, there's more good sense in that little song than you're likely to find in a half dozen text books on psychology. It brings life back into focus and reminds us again of the wonderful fact that God has more than fulfilled his promise to supply all our needs.
From
"The Therapy of Thankfulness"
****
A little boy who
On a sunny day,
Was wandering home from Sunday School,
And dawdling on his way.
He scuffed his
shoetip in the grass,
He saw a caterpillar.
He found a fluffy milkweed pod
And blew out all the 'filler.'
A bird's nest in
the tree o'erhead
So wisely placed on high,
Was just another wonder
That caught his eager eye.
A neighbor watched
his zig-zag course
And hailed him from the lawn,
Asking where he'd been that day,
Wondering where he'd gone.
'I've been to Sunday
School,'
(He carefully turned the sod
And found a snail beneath it)
'I've learned a lot of God.'
'What a foolish
way,' the neighbor said,
'For a boy to spend his time.
If you'll tell me where God is,
I'll give you a brand new dime.'
Quick as a flash
his answer came,
Nor were his accents faint.
'I'll give you a dollar, mister,
To tell me where he ain't.'"
Well, the poetry is rather poor, but the theology is pretty good. If we have eyes to see, we will spot God's footprints everywhere.
From
"Footprints"
****
Bliss Carmen describes
how he found the clues that lead to God when, in his well-loved poem "Vestigia",
he tells of taking a day to search for God without much success. Then he says,
But as I trod. . .
by rocky ledge, through woods untamed,
just where one scarlet lilly flamed,
I saw his footprints in the sod.
From
"Footprints"
****
Fanny Crosby, the blind girl who became a world-famous writer of hymns was witnessing one day to a man who didn't know her Savior. She tried to tell him all that Jesus meant to her, but the man wouldn't listen. He simply couldn't believe that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, or that Jesus could satisfy the needs of the human heart.
Finally, in exasperation,
he said,
"Suppose it's true. Suppose there is a heaven and you and Jesus will
be there, as you say. How would you know him in all that crowd? You
wouldn't be able to recognize him, you're blind!"
Those words sent
Fanny Crosby home with a heavy heart. She had never thought of it like that
before. How would she know him? She couldn't see him. She was blind. And then,
suddenly the light of heaven filled her countenance. She remembered that blind
people don't see with their eyes. They see with their fingers! And she exclaimed,
"Of course, that's it! Why didn't I think of it before. I'll know him,
by the
print of the nails in his hands."
Fanny Crosby sat
down and wrote this beautiful hymn.
"When my life's work has ended,
And I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning
I shall see.
I shall know my redeemer when I reach
The other side,
And his smile will be the first to welcome me.
I shall know him,
I shall know him,
And redeemed by his side I shall stand.
I shall know him, I shall know him,
By the print of the nail in his hand."
From
"Nail Prints"
****
From the pen of
a little-known poet, Cale Young Rice come a few lovely lines which describe
the adventure in which we have been engaged during the past few weeks. An adventure
that has led us close to the heart of God.
"There is a quest that calls me
In nights when I am alone,
The need to ride where the ways divide
The known from the unknown.
I mount what thought
is near me
And soon I reach the place,
The tenuous rim where the scene grows dim,
And the sightless hides its face.
I have ridden the
wind,
I have ridden the sea,
I have ridden the moon and the stars,
I have set my feet in the stirrup seat
Of a comet coursing Mars.
And everywhere,
Through earth and air
My thought speeds lightening shod,
It comes to a place where checking pace
It cries, 'Beyond lies God.'"
From
"Straight Ahead Lies Glory"
****
I cannot choose.
I should have liked so much
To sit at Jesus' feet, to feel the touch
Of his kind, gentle hand upon my head
While drinking in the gracious word he said.
And yet to serve
Him! O divine employ,
To minister and give the Master joy,
To bathe in coolest springs his weary feet,
And wait upon Him while he sits at meat.
Worship or service,
which? Ah, that is best
To which he calls us, be it toil or rest.
To labor for Him in life's busy stir,
Or seek his feet, a silent worshiper.
From
"Great Women of the Bible -- Martha"
****
"Lord of all
pots and pans and things,
Since I've no time to be
A saint by doing lovely things or
Watching late with thee,
Or dreaming in the twilight or
Storming heaven's gates.
Make me a saint by getting meals or
Washing up the plates.
Although I must
have Martha's hands,
I have Mary's mind, and.
When I black the boots and shoes
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.
I think of how they trod the earth
What time I scrub the floor,
Accept this meditation, Lord,
I haven't time for more.
Warm all the kitchen
with thy love,
And light it with thy peace,
Forgive me all my worrying
And make all grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food
In room or by the sea
Accept this service that I do
I do it unto thee."
From
"Great Women of the Bible -- Martha"
****
One of my "preaching
partners" sent me this qoute,
"Before God's footstool to confess,
A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.
'I've failed,' he wailed. The Master said,
'You did your best. That is success."
From
"The Favorite Text of Richard Nixon"
****
"O Jesus,
I have promised
To serve thee to the end.
Be thou forever near me,
My master and my friend.
I shall not fear the battle
If thou art by my side,
Nor wander from the pathway
If thou wilt be my guide.
O let me feel thee
near me,
The world is ever near.
I see the sights that dazzle,
The tempting sounds I hear.
My foes are ever near me,
Around me and within.
But Jesus, draw thou nearer,
And shield my soul from sin."
From
"The Favorite Text of Judge Harold R. Medina"
****
Sometimes, after
we have made the right choice of life goals, we fail to be what we might have
been through lack of preparation and self-discipline. There is a happy bit of
doggerel which says it rather cleverly:
"It takes a little courage and a little self-control,
And some grim determination if you want to reach the goal.
It takes a deal
of striving and firm and stern-set chin,
No matter what the battle, if you're really out to win.
So here's a rule
to guide you as you seek prosperity:
Never put your wishbone where your backbone ought to be."
That's not very good poetry, but it makes very good sense! Mr. Webster defines discipline as "training which corrects, molds, strengthens and perfects." I can't imagine a quality more needful for victorious living than that. "Training which corrects, molds, strengthens and perfects." Nor is there a quality less common among Christians.
From
"The Favorite Text of Coach Bud Wilkinson"
****
We must learn to
pray with Amy Carmichael,
"From prayer that asks that I may be
Sheltered from winds that beat the hill,
From fearing when I should aspire,
From faltering when I should climb higher,
From silken self, O Captain, free
Thy soldier who would follow thee.
Let me not sink to be a clod.
Make me Thy fuel, O flame of God!"
From
"The Favorite Text of Coach Bud Wilkinson"
****
A few months ago Helen Frazee-Bower, a Christian poet from Kentucky went to be with the Lord. Over the years Mrs. Frazee-Bower has given us a number of hymns and poems. I've qouted several of them, but none can surpass the one she wrote a few days before she died, called This Is Death.
This is not death,
but triumph and reward:
To walk by faith through all life's little day
And then, at eventide, to meet the Lord
And hand in hand with him to go away.
This is not death-this is abundant life,
Eternal life, the freeing of the soul
For bliss beyond earth's time of toil and strife.
This is not death, but the immortal goal.
But this is death:
In treaspasses and sin
All through life's journey carelessly to roam.
To find the door-and never enter in.
To see the truth-and never take it home.
Unmindful of the Christ, to draw each breath
As though this world were final.
This is death.
From
"The Favorite Text of General Douglas Mac Arthur"
****
"I know not
if tomorrow's way
Is steep or rough,
But when his hand is guiding me
That is enough.
And so, although the veil has hid
Tomorrow's way,
I walk in perfect faith and trust
Through each today.
The love of God
has hung a veil
Around tomorrow,
That we may not its beauty see,
Nor trouble borrow.
But oh, 'tis sweeter far to trust
His unseen hand,
And know that all the paths of life
His wisdom planned."
From
"The Favorite Text of Pat Boone"
****
In a bit of free
verse, Bonaro Overstreet has written,
"You say the little efforts that I make
Will do no good,
They never will prevail
To tip the hovering scale
Where justice hangs in the balance.
I don't think
I ever thought they would.
But I am prejudiced beyond debate,
In favor of my right to choose which side
Shall feel the stubborn ounces of my weight."
From
"The Favorite Text of Vernon Law"
****
Perhaps you have
been listening to the sound of many voices, a veritable babel of them, calling,
"Here wisdom lies. Here rest and peace are found. Lo here! Lo there!"
And you are confused, because there is no dominant voice You are not alone.
"The world is weary of new tracks of thought that lead to naught,
Sick of quack remedies prescribed in vain for mortal pain."
But I say to you,
"Above them all one figure stands with outstretched hands.
One voice sounds above the strife saying,
'I am the way, the truth, the life.'"
From
"The Favorite Text of Norman Vincent Peale"
****
Homer Hock has
some expressive lines which, when paraphrased slightly, apply beautifully to
this One who towers above all citizens of time.
"There is no new thing to be said of Jesus.
There is no new thing to be said of the mountains, or the stars, or the sea.
The years go their
way, and the same old mountains lift their granite shoulders
above the drifting clouds.
The same silent stars keep holy vigil over a tired world.
The same mysterious sea beats against the shore.
But to mountains, and to stars, and to sea, men pay their unwearied homage.
It is thus with
Jesus. He is mountain in grandeur of soul.
He is star in fidelity of purpose.
He is sea in the mysterious voice of loneliness.
And he abides!"
"I am come, that ye might have life, and that more abundant."
From
"The Favorite Text of Norman Vincent Peale"
****
"We cannot
have Utopia now,
It's a waste of time to plan it:
For if we had Utopia now,
Where would we find the men to man it?
You cannot work the Utopian plan
Unless you have the Utopian man."
From "The Favorite Text
of Ralph Bunche"
****
It was Mark Twain
who said,
"Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it."
I suppose we might say that everybody talks about grace, but nobody really understands
it. Oh, theologians can define it. Preachers can describe it. Believers can
receive it. Lost sinners can enjoy it. But who can understand it?
Who can understand
how God could so love this wicked, wayward world he would give heaven's best
to redeem man's worst! And yet, that is the story of his grace. Little wonder
we are compelled to sing,
"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found.
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that
taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fear relieved:
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!"
From
"The Favorite Text of Jerome Hines"
****
God is love! With
patient persistence he seeks to make himself, and his love, known to you.
The longer I live the more I marvel at the great lengths to which God goes to
accomplish this. Witness such things as a radiant sunset. A fruit tree in blossom.
A child rollicking at play.
These are not essential to life.
The sun could fulfill
its task of making things grow without putting on such a dazzling performance
at gloaming.
The fruit tree could nourish us without bursting forth in such beauty.
The child could carry on the chain of life without those ripples of laughter
which make our hearts sing.
Why, then, all this glory, this beauty, this radiance? Because, through these over and above gifts, God makes his love known to us. He places them here in the hope that, through the insight of faith, all people, everywhere, will recognize them to be revelations of God's love. Gateways, if you will, at which they can begin their march toward truth.
Grace Curry of
Lincoln, Nebraska, recognized this when she wrote,
"You speak to me in the sunset, Lord.
In the dark of the sky at night;
In the lilting song of the Cardinal,
In the Martin's daring flight.
In the cool, wet
kiss of a raindrop,
In the warmth of the sun's caress,
In the blue of the sky, in the green of the grass,
You fill me with happiness.
In the flaming
color of leaves in the fall,
In the white of the winter's snow,
In the twitter of sleepy birds at night,
Your love for me you show.
In the flickering
light of a candle's beam,
In the organ's loud 'Amen,'
In the words our loved ones say to us,
You speak again and again.
'O thank you God,'
our hearts cry loud,
'O thank you, Father most high,
These are glimpses of heaven on earth,
We see, as you pass by.'"
God is love! And with patient persistence he seeks to make himself, and his
love, known to you.
From
"The Favorite Text of J. Irwin Miller"
****
Someone has written,
"Nobody knows what a boy is worth
The world must wait and see.
For every man in an honored place
Is a boy that used to be.
Nobody knows what
a boy is worth,
A boy with his face aglow;
For hidden in his heart there are secrets deep
Not even the wisest know."
From
"The Christ of the Silent Years"
****
"Dream not
so much of what you'll do tomorrow,
How well you'll work perhaps another year;
Tomorrow's chance you do not need to borrow,
Today is here.
Boast not so much
of mountains you will master
The while you linger in the vale below;
To dream is well, but plodding brings you faster,
To where you go.
Swear not some
day to break some habits fetter,
When this old year is dead and passed away;
If you have need of living wiser, better
Begin today."
From
"The Christ of Beckoning Call"
****
"My Father
is omnipotent
On that you can rely.
A God of might and miracles
'Tis written in the sky.
It took a miracle to put the stars in space.
It took a miracle to hang the world in place.
But when he saved my soul,
Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace."
From
"The Christ of the Divinely Natural"
****
When J. Sidlow
Baxter was with us last fall he taught us was how to pray a hymn. To commit
the words of that hymn to memory and to use it as a prayer expressing some deep
longing of our heart. One of the hymns I have often prayed since then is this
one:
"Spirit of God descend upon my heart
Wean it from care, through all my pulses move
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art
And help me love thee as I ought to love.
I ask no dream,
no prophet ecstasy
No sudden rending of this veil of clay
No angel visitant, no heaven-sent dove
Just take the dimness of my soul away.
Teach me to feel
that thou art always nigh
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer."
I can't adequately describe how much those quiet moments have meant to me. But
invariably, when they are over, I am reconciled with myself and with my God.
From
"The Christ of the Fourth Commandment"
****
How does that little
paragraph go? Oh yes.
"He asked for strength that he might achieve,
He was made weak that he might obey.
He asked for health that he might do greater things,
He was given sickness that he might do better things.
He asked for riches that he might be happy,
He was given poverty that he might be wise.
He asked for power that he might have the praise of men,
He was given weakness that he might feel the need of God.
He asked for all things that he might enjoy life,
He was given life that he might enjoy all things.
And so, while he received nothing he asked for, he received everything he hoped
for. His prayer was answered, and he was of all men most blessed."
From
"The Christ of the Garden and Prayer"
****
As Sidney Lanier says so beautifully in his masterpiece, "The Marshes of
the Glynn."
"As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod
Behold, I will build me a nest on the greatness of God.
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies.
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod
I will heartily lay me ahold of the greatness of God."
From
"The Christ of Flawless Anchorage"
****
"The head
that once was crowned with thorns
Is crowned with glory now.
A royal diadem adorns
The mighty victor's brow.
The highest place
that heaven affords
Is his, is his by right.
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords
And heaven's eternal light."
Thomas Kelley
From "The Christ of
the Long Tomorrow"
****