With and Without Christ

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.”

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 tiches 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.

In ‘America, a business man said to me: “T 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 cettain 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 wash- ing 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).

“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 Creatot’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.

“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 pertecta

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 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.

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

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.”

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.

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?

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. ili. 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.

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.

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 and lives the truth that His “yoke is easy’ 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.