Shine As Lights # 6

Shine As Lights # 6

We must put our foot on temper, and keep it down at all hazards. When we have failed in this respect, we must recollect ourselves, and let Christ regain the throne. Never let an angry feeling live through your next season of prayer. If you have been unable to get rid of it before, leave every trace of it behind when you rise from your knees. Fellowship with God cannot continue side by side with a ruffled and angry spirit. "Be angry and do not sin - do not let the sun go down upon your anger."

Nor must you forget that it is your privilege to bear a personal testimony for Christ. You must not only live for Him, but speak for Him, and not be ashamed to confess Him in the world. Let the word of Christ dwell so richly within you as to fill you with joy and peace in Him, and then tell others of His love for perishing sinners. In our land God is raising up witnesses for Christ in every rank of society, and you must be one of them. You need not be clever, or be able to give a sermon or an address; but in the simplest way you may tell a fellow-sinner of His grace, if only He is dwelling by His Spirit in your heart. Do not wait until you are stronger in faith, but begin at once. Do what you can. Have Christ by your side; believe that He is near to help you, and you cannot fail to be useful.

Read a chapter to a sick one; speak gently for Christ to the little ones; plead with the wanderer that he would come back to the Lord and seek His face. In this way, and in any other that is possible, hold forth the Word of Life, that souls may believe and be saved forever through Him.

But I must draw to a close. I have but touched on a few of the various directions in which the Christian must endeavor to show forth the life of Christ. But I would entreat you, dear reader, to rise above the common standard, and strive, by God's grace, to live a very holy, devoted, self-denying life. I entreat you by the call of God, who bids you be as holy as He is holy. I entreat you by the dying agonies - by the wounds of the Son of God, who gave Himself for you to redeem you unto Himself as one of a peculiar people, zealous of good works. I entreat you, as you value your own soul, follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. I entreat you, as you value the souls of others, that you so walk that your life may prove no stumbling block, but a means of help to them on their way to glory. I entreat you, for the honor of the Gospel which you profess to believe, to live worthy of its high and lofty privileges, and that you may thus commend it to the attention of those around you.

Very especially would I beseech all young Christians - all who have lately learned to love the Saviour - to set before you the life of Christ as your pattern. Walk as He walked; live as He lived; keep ever under the shelter of His blood as the one ground of your confidence; and, doing this, expect to receive day by day a large supply of His grace. His Spirit, the Comforter, dwells in you. He shall raise you above yourself, above the dominion of evil, above the power of the world, above the unbelief of your own heart, until He has made you fit for His presence above.

And forget not that Christ will soon appear. The sands of time are running out very quickly; the people of God are being gathered home, one by one. Dangers foretold are manifestly visible among us. The Lord is at hand. We ought to be constantly looking for His glorious appearing, and looking diligently, that He may find us at our appointed place in His vineyard. Oh, that we might hourly rejoice in the prospect before us, if we are His! May He quicken our hearts to do so; and may all we possess be laid at His footstool!

"Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands, and them move
At the impulse of Your love.
Take my feet - and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips - and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect - and use
Every power as You shall choose.

Take my will, and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart - it is Thine own;
It shall be your royal throne.

Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At Your feet its treasure store.
Take my self - and I will be
Ever, only, All for Thee."
(Frances R. Havergal)

~George Everard~

(The End)