Young people sometimes postpone becoming Christians on the ground that
they want to have a good time for a while longer. Who can be happier
than the Christian? Our religion fits into the needs of all of every
age. If there are any amusements enjoyed by the world from which members
of the church feel it a duty to abstain it is because more wholesome
amusements crowd out the objectionable ones. It ought not to be
necessary to forbid a Christian to do harmful things; he ought to avoid
them because he has no taste for them--because he finds more real
pleasure and more enduring satisfaction in the things that are innocent
and helpful.
There is another class to which I desire to address myself to-day,
namely, those who call themselves more liberal than Christians--who look
upon our religion as narrowing in its influence. Christianity is the
broadest of creeds because it takes in everything that touches human
life, here and hereafter. The Christian life is the most comprehensive
life known; it is as deep as the heart; it is as wide as the world; and
it is as high as heaven.
Paul, the great Apostle, tells us that Christ came to "bring life and
immortality to light"--not immortality alone, but life also, and the
word Life comes before the word Immortality.
But we have higher authority even than Paul. Christ, in explaining His
mission, said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly." It is to the _more abundant_ life that Christ
calls us. He was the master of mathematics, yet He used only addition
and multiplication; subtraction has no place in His philosophy.
Let me illustrate, as I see it, the gift that Christ brings to man. Let
us suppose that the people living in an agricultural section had, by
intelligent cultivation, brought from the soil all that it could yield
in material wealth. If a stranger came into the community and announced
that the people, by sinking a shaft one hundred feet deep, could find
a vein of coal, they would, if they believed the statement true,
immediately sink a shaft; and, if they found the coal, they would add
it to the wealth that they derived from the surface of the ground. They
would be grateful to the person who told them of the additional riches
which they possessed but of which they were not aware. They might not
think to thank him immediately--they might be too busy acquiring money
to express their gratitude. But after the man was dead, if not before,
they would pause long enough to erect a monument to testify to their
appreciation of the service he had rendered.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account