The brave man--and that Scotchman was brave indeed--is not necessarily a
man who doesn’t feel fear; he is one who doesn’t yield to it. Even that
hero General Gordon used to say he felt afraid when in action. Most of
us would like to run away; but most manage, somehow, to "stick it out."
There are other situations where it is just as important, and almost as
difficult, to "stick it out" as in a shell-plagued trench. There is
another War on hand, and the man who takes his place on this front will
need all the pluck that he can muster.
It is useless to disguise the fact that to be a Christian means you are
in for a fight--and a stiff one at that. Some people seem to think of
the Christian religion as if it were a kind of Sunday Club, or a rest
cure, or a mutual benefit society. But Christianity is not a passive
thing at all. If you are going to be a Christian you have got to take
sides in the eternal war of Right against Wrong; and a man cannot take
sides without taking hard knocks too. We sometimes speak of War as if it
were a kind of great game. Here is the greatest Game of all. And, as a
Christian, you are not spectator, linesman or referee: you are one of
the team; and it’s "up to" you to strip and get going and play the game
for all you are worth.
And what of the fight? Who is the enemy, and how are we to fight him?
You won’t need field glasses to see his front line. "A soldier’s first
and last battle is with himself." The enemy outside owes much of his
strength and success to his traitorous ally within the gates. Many a
man’s worst foe is in his own heart and life. There are things that
start from within, habits of thought or word or deed, which definitely
militate against a man being a true Knight and a Christian gentleman.
There can be no truce with these things. The Christian Knight has got to
stand up against them. And if he feels--and who does not?--that he is
woefully lacking in the needed strength and courage, then let him turn
once more to the living Son of God, Who alone can make weak men strong,
and Who loves to do it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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