Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIVMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chapters I to XIV
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. John -- Commentaries
Then, thirdly, there is light here about another matter, the connection
between faith and progress. 'Thou shalt see greater things than these.'
A wise teacher stimulates his scholars from the beginning, by giving
them glimpses of how much there is ahead to be learnt. That does not
drive them to despair; it braces all their powers. And so Christ, as
His first lesson to these men, substantially says, 'You have learnt
nothing yet, you are only beginning.' That is true about us all. Faith
at first, both in regard to its contents and its quality, is very
rudimentary and infantile. A man when he is first converted—perhaps
suddenly—knows after a fashion that he himself is a very sinful,
wretched, poor creature, and he knows that Jesus Christ has died for
him, and is his Saviour, and his heart goes out to Him, in confidence
and love and obedience. But he is only standing at the door and peeping
in as yet. He has only mastered the alphabet. He is but on the frontier
of the promised land. His faith has brought him into contact with
infinite power, and what will be the end of that? He will indefinitely
grow. His faith has started him on a course to which there is no
natural end. As long as it keeps alive he will be growing and growing,
and getting nearer and nearer to the great centre of all.
So here is a grand possibility opened out in these simple words, a
possibility which alone meets what you need, and what you are craving
for, whether you know it or not, namely, something that will give you
ever new powers and acquirements; something which will ensure your
closer and ever closer approach to an absolute object of joy and truth;
something that will ensure you against stagnation and guarantee
unceasing progress. Everything else gets worn out, sooner or later; if
not in this world, then in another. There is one course on which a man
can enter with the certainty that there is no end to it, that it will
open out, and out, and out as he advances—with the certainty that, come
life, come death, it is all the same.
When the plant grows too tall for the greenhouse they lift the roof,
and it grows higher still. Whether you have your growth in this lower
world, or whether you have your top up in the brightness and the blue
of heaven, the growth is in one direction. There is a way that secures
endless progress, and here lies the secret of it: 'Thou believest! thou
shalt see greater things than these.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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