Reality and Religion: Meditations on God, Man and Nature

1. WirHout faith, no work, whether spiritual or secular, can be done. If we did not believe in one another, life in the world would be impossible. When everything depends so much upon faith, what shame it is if we do not trust in Him who has created in our nature the capacity for faith! Of course, if our knowledge were infinite, there would be no need for faith; but when our knowledge is so limited that it is almost nothing, then in this world we shall always stand in need of faith. And indeed in the next world also, for even then our knowledge will not be infinite.

Faith, like love, is the tendril of the soul which clings to God, puts out branches and leaves and brings forth abundant spiritual fruit.

2. By faith we receive the baptism of the fire of the Holy Ghost. Without this, the baptism of water is not enough for purity and salvation. Silver and gold can be cleansed by water only on the outside, as it cannot penetrate into them to purify them. Fire is necessary to refine them. The baptism of the fire of the Holy Spirit is necessary to purify the soul completely.

1. WitHourT receiving the Holy Spirit, we cannot understand the greatness and Godhead of Christ, although we may follow Him all our life. This is clear from the experiences of the disciples. Christ called the disciples from a lower to a higher and nobler work, from being fishermen to be fishers of men. ‘They lived three years with Him. During those years, they did the noble work of preaching to men the good tidings of salvation. But when Christ was crucified and buried, all their hopes were laid in His grave. ‘The disciples went back again to do the same old work which they had been doing before for their living. But Christ, who they thought was dead, rose again from the dead and appeared to them on several occasions. Once when He appeared to His disciples by the Sea of Galilee Peter recognised Him as the Lord, and was so much ashamed that he jumped into the water to hide himself. For this there were most likely two reasons. One was that this was the first time he saw Christ after his denial, and he was ashamed, thinking: I declared solemnly that I would give up even my life for Christ and that I would not by any means deny Him. But I did deny Him. How can I now stand before Him? The other reason most probably was that he was ashamed when he realised that three years ago at that very spot he and the other disciples had been called to the great work of bringing men to Christ, and that after three years they had given up the nobler service and had gone back to the old work and were following it in the same place, while they should have continued the great work to which Christ had called them. When Christ rose from the dead, their dead hopes also came to life, and when further they received the fullness of the Holy Spirit, they realised anew the Godhead of Christ and continued to the end of their lives, in spite of persecution and martyrdom, to preach Him and to carry on the work for which they had been called.

2. At the present time there are many Christians who have been following Christ without experiencing His greatness and Godhead in their own, inner lives. So they have gone astray. ‘They think that Christ was a great and perfect man who lived and died centuries ago. But to those who repent and pray, He reveals Himself again in His glory and powers as to St. Paul. They renew their fellowship with Him, and by the power of the Holy Ghost faithfully serve Him to the end of their lives.

1. Ir the spirit of Christ does not dwell in us, we cannot be humble and meek like Him, who, being God, took upon Him the form of a servant (Phil. ii. 6, 7). We must not give room for false pride in our hearts, forgetting what we really are. By pride we shall fall away from Truth and destroy ourselves. Even though we have made more progress than other men, we must not forget that diamond and coal are made of the same substance, viz. carbon. Owing to different conditions they have taken such different forms, but a diamond, though so valuable, can be burnt away as completely as can coal.

2. When we stand on the edge of a preci- pice and look down we feel dizzy and are afraid, though the depth may be only a few hundred feet. But we are never afraid when we gaze at the heavens, though our eyes may range over much greater heights. Why? Because we cannot fall upwards. There is, however, a danger of falling down and being dashed to pieces. When we look up to God, we feel that we are safe in Him and that there is no danger whatever. But if we turn away our face from Him, we are filled with fear lest we fall down from Reality and be broken to pieces.

I. ReaL time, i.e. time in its relation to Reality, is eternity. Time as we know it is a passing shadow of that real time. For God there is no Past and Future, everything is Present. Being infinite in knowledge, the Past and the Future stand before Him. But for us the Present has no existence, as it is only a passing away of the Future into the Past. Every moment emerges from the Future and glides into the Past with unimaginable quickness. The Past and the Future also do not exist for us, as they are beyond our reach. Therefore Time has no reality for us.

When we awake from sleep, we are hardly able to tell how much Time has passed during our sleep. Even in our waking moments, Time is so unreal. In sorrow and suffering, a day seems to be a year; in joy, a year a day. Time has no Reality, therefore, for Reality is real under all circumstances, and we have no sense for Time as we have been created for Reality, which is Eternal.

2. Year, month, day and hour, minute, second, create what we call Time by reference to incidents or changes of objects in space. Take any object in space; its change creates Time. When the change is taking place, it is Present; when the change has taken place, it is past; when the change is still to take place, it is Future. When objects change, Time also changes with them into Future or Past. On the other hand, Reality changes neither itself nor the eternity with which it is connected.

3. Time may change and be lost in oblivion. But whatever we have done in Time will never be wiped out, but pass into Eternity.

“The world passeth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John ii. 17).