| Things to Live For |
Chapter 13 |
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But who has not had like failures in his own experience? We all are given opportunities for dong noble things. They may not be conspicuous things, like walking on the sea; ofttimes they are things which must be done where no eye but God’s can see us. Yet, nevertheless, they are things in which we must show faith and courage, self control and fidelity, or fail and disappoint our Master. Too often we fail.
A temptation comes into our life. It is not easy to resist it. But there is a wonderful promise which says that God will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. For a time we resist the temptation, but the stress becomes sorer and sorer. It is a crisis hour. We take our eyes off the Master, and fail.
We are set to witness for Christ in a certain place. He has no other one to stand for him there. All about us are those who do not know him. It is our mission to show to them the power and the beauty of the Christian life. They will not read the Bible, nor enter the church. They only scoff when it is intimated to them that they need Christ. Our lives are the only interpretations of Christ which they can be brought to see. We cannot preach to them, for our words would be trodden underfoot. All we can do is just to continue faithful, to be gentle, patient, unselfish, true, good tempered, holy, day after day, week after week, without faltering. But it is not easy to do this. The smallest failure will be noted, and gloried in as a failure of Christianity. If we lose our patience, speak unadvisedly, reveal even for a few moments a bitter or jealous spirit, speak an untruth, do an unjust thing – if in anything we act in a manner unbecoming a Christian, we have failed Christ.
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