STUDY VI. WHY MEN NEGLECT TO BEAR PERSONAL TESTIMONY. "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." (Rom. iii. 10, 11.) "For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or forfeit his own self?" (Luke ix. 25.) "And cast ye out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." (Matt. xxv. 30.) PART 6. WE DO NOT REALIZE THE DESPERATE NEED OF MEN. JESUS believed that men who were not associated with him were in desperate need. A man might have abundance of worldly goods or learning or social position, but if he did not know Christ he was irretrievably lost. This thought made him weep over the inhabitants of Jerusalem. It was the sense of the sin and need of men that weighed down on his soul as he hung on the cross, until his heart broke with the agony. It seems practically certain, from a scientific standpoint, that Jesus did not die of physical pain alone, but of mental suffering. He saw as none of us see the real condition of men. He looked beneath the veneer of wealth and culture and power into the dark and lonely depths of sinsick souls. If we could get away from the conception of life as material prosperity, we would see men as they really are, walking about in all their barrenness and wretchedness and sin. Browning represents Lazarus as having an entirely new perspective of life because he had seen into eternity and caught the real standard of values. Discourse of armies meant nothing to him. The death of his child seemed not to touch him, but the sin of his child startled him into agony. Most of us are blind to the real needs of men. We do not know their battles and we pass them lightly by, supposing all within is as calm as a summer sea. But hidden from us is the awful struggle of a sin-sick soul. "We smile, but O, great Christ, our cries To thee from tortured souls arise." I only wish I could take each reader with me to any one of the colleges I visit and let him hear the call that comes from some of the strongest men in college-a call for a power by which they may win victory. It would break the heart of any man to know the awful struggle in the lives of these men. In a Virginia college one man recently told me of his terrible battle with drink. In a Western university another man, within a month of this writing, told me of his desperate struggle with passion. In the past two months I have talked with a number of men in the midst of a battle with doubt. On every hand there are men who are battling with selfishness and losing the battle. If men only realized what a common thing temptation is! If we only saw the forces that are destroying character! If we only saw as Christ saw —that sin means separation from God, and all men who are not Christ's are lost-we would all be personal workers. Prayer: "O God, help me to be sensitive to the suffering and sin of the world. Even though it be painful, keep me keenly conscious of the needs of men. Help me to point men to the Christ who alone can give peace." STUDY VI. WHY MEN NEGLECT TO BEAR PERSONAL TESTIMONY. "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I; send me." (Isa. vi. 5, 8.) "Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared; who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?" (Amos iii. 7, 8) PART 7. OUR RELATION TO CHRIST IS NOT SUCH AS TO BEGET A SENSE OF MESSAGE. "HAVE I not seen Jesus our Lord?" These are the triumphant words of the Apostle Paul. They were his defense when attacked, as they were also his inspiration in the midst of difficulty. This was the motive power of his life. His soul fairly glowed when he thought how near Jesus was to him. It was Paul's sense of fellowship with Christ which gave him his sense of message. Isaiah's sense of message came from a vision of God. He felt he knew God and his righteousness, and at once he heard the call to service. Amos, that wonderful shepherd prophet, who in the lonely hills of Tekoa had learned to know God, had a sense of message. Cornill has called Amos one of the greatest figures in the history of the human mind. He was simply a shepherd, but he had met God out there as he watched his sheep under the clear Judean sky. Amos could not refuse to speak. God had spoken to him, and he must go up to Israel and try to win back God's people. If ever you see a human being living in sin, if somehow you know that God yearns to save that being from a ruined life, do not turn away from the thought; it is God's call to you for service. The personal worker must have a sense of message. He must have gone into the spiritual laboratory as did Paul and Isaiah and Amos, and, having met God, then he must come out to tell the waiting people. The greatest need of our day is for men with an overwhelming sense of message such a sense of message that they cannot get away from it-men who have experienced a reality so tremendous that they must make their report. He who has such a sense of message will be personal worker. If we have met God we will want to lead others to meet him too. If we have not such a sense of God's nearness, then we should put ourselves daily in his presence through Bible study and prayer until we begin to know that he is real. O could I tell, ye surely would believe it— Therefore, O Lord, I will not fail nor falter; Lay on my lips thine embers off the altar, Quick in a moment, infinite forever, Send an arousal better than I pray: -Myers's "St. Paul." |