_THE INNER ROOMS_
JOHN v. 31-47.
What should I think of a man who was contented to remain in the outer
halls and passages of Windsor Castle, when he was invited into the royal
precincts to have gracious communion with the King? And what shall I think
of men who are contented to "search the Scriptures" and "will not come" to
the Lord? They spend their life exploring the lobbies, when the Host and
the feast are waiting in the upper room!
And some men spend their days in criticism and they never advance to
worship. They are like unto one who should give his strength to the
deciphering of some time-worn inscription on the outer wall of some grand
cathedral, and who never treads the sacred floor in fruitful and enriching
awe.
And some men live in the senses, and not in the conscience, in the awful
presence of the great white throne. They are for ever seeking sensations,
and avoid the fellowship of duty. They ride about in the channel, and they
never come to the harbour. They have no settled moral home.
My Lord, help me to regard all good things as merely passages leading to
Thee! Let all good things bring me into intimate fellowship with Thee.