| Things to Live For |
Chapter 4 |
Page 6 |
The simple teaching of the Bible is that as we abide in Christ, in unbroken fellowship, there flows from him to us, into our deepest lives, in continuous stream, strength according to our need. “My strength is made perfect in weakness.” As the waters of the sea pour out into every bay or channel, pressing up into every slightest indentation along the shore, so God’s strength flows into every life that is lived in him filling all its emptiness.
This teaching gives us the secret of strength. It tells us how it is possible for us to be strong, though I ourselves we are so weak. Indeed, so wonderful is the divine grace that each believer in Christ can say in truth, “When I am weak, then am I strong? Or very weakness becomes a blessing, because it makes room for the power of God, and this in us makes us strong. We never need faint nor fall, for our strength will be renewed as fast as it is used. We many go on with our work, with our struggle, with our doing and serving, never withholding what the duty of the moment demands, never sparing ourselves when the calls of love to God or to our fellows are upon us, sure that , waiting upon God, we shall receive all the strength we need.
“I said, This task is keen–
But even while I spake, thou, Love Divine,
Didst stand behind, and gently overlean
My drooping form and, oh!
What task had been
Too stern for feebleness with help of thine?
Spell thou this lesson with me line by line,
The sense is rigid, but the voice is dear;
Guide thou my hand within that hand of thine–
Thy wounded hand! Until its tremblings take
Strength from thy touch, and even for thy sake
Trace out each character in outline clear.”
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