IT IS ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES
Our God is the God of nature as well as of grace. Trees thrive best when
in the sphere that nature intended them for. The palm tree is especially
a hot climate tree, and when taken out of its proper place it stands to
reason that it will succumb. It can not stand the cold. It was not made
that way. It matters not how hot the place may be, even in the broiling
sun of the desert, it will thrive. But place it in the cold regions, and
death will inevitably be the result.
The palm tree saint has this same characteristic in the spiritual realm.
A red-hot meeting is his delight. His very nature calls out for the fire
which burns in meetings where God has His way. The warmer the meetings
the better he likes them, and the better he thrives. He can not stand
the cold. God did not make him to stand cold meetings, and so he is not
responsible for it. Cold meetings seem to chill him to the marrow. And
should he providentially be placed in such a sphere, he would feel that
he must do something to start the circulation or he would soon be frozen
to death. Why do not more people have the wisdom of those in cold
climates? To illustrate: A man starts out on a load of wood to take it
to the market several miles away. The thermometer is many degrees below
zero. A friend meets him in the way and informs him that he saw him
nodding as he came down the road; that his nose is white and that frost
has gathered on his eyebrows. The poor man still has sense enough left
to see his danger, and he at once jumps off the load and begins to kick
his toes against the sled, and swing his arms around his body in that
peculiar, cold-climate style to warm himself. After a most heroic effort
he finds himself thoroughly awake, and the warm blood again coursing
through his veins, and he says to himself, "I will not allow that to
happen again."
How often have we seen an iceberg in the pulpit, icicles in the pews,
and polar breezes sweeping through the place! Surely, to live in that
climate long would be to freeze to death. One would have to make a
tremendous stir if he hoped to keep up circulation in such a place. And
should the stir be made, there would be a hue and cry of fanaticism,
wild fire, crazy, or such like. But the Holy Ghost never intended
Christians to live in such an element. He never intended palm tree
saints to live in refrigerators. One may ask if refrigerators are not
good for something. Surely, they are. One can preserve a dead chicken
well in one of them, but put a live chicken in and it will soon chill
and die. The idea of thinking that a lot of little, new-born babes could
live and thrive in church refrigerators! No, they must have warmth. It
is their nature, and when one goes contrary to nature, bad results will
surely follow. Thank God there is a warm climate for those who must
have it. Let us see to it that we live under the warm rays of the Sun of
righteousness, and in an element conducive to spiritual growth and
health.
There is a mistaken idea abroad concerning unity. Because there is no
outward eruption, and because things seem to run smooth, they take it
for granted that there is oneness. There is such a thing as being frozen
together instead of melted together. Jesus prayed for His disciples that
they might be sanctified, that they all might be one. It is the
sanctifying baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire that makes people one
in the proper and scriptural sense. If one had any fire in which to keep
warm, and should attempt to live in some frozen regions, they would soon
cool him off, and he would be frozen together with them. The story is
told of an eagle floating down the Niagara river on a cake of ice. He
was enjoying a feast on a lamb which was frozen to the ice. After a
while the eagle neared the falls, but he was not afraid, because he
could fly. Finally, as the water got swifter, the eagle was seen to
spread his wings and prepare for the escape. When he saw that he could
remain no longer with impunity, he attempted to spring from the ice,
when, lo and behold, he found himself frozen to the cake of ice. With an
awful screech and wings flapping he went over the falls to destruction.
May the Lord save _us_ from too much self-confidence and from remaining
where death and destruction are inevitable, and where freezing and
falling go together.
Quite a number of years ago the writer and another evangelist were
invited to a certain church in New Orleans for revival services. A
certain, noted evangelist had formerly served in that church as pastor,
and great good had resulted from his ministry. The pastor at this time
stated in his invitation to us, that should we accept it, it must be
with the understanding that we were not to preach holiness as a second
work of grace; that the church had previously undergone quite an
upheaval on that line, but now things had quieted down, and peace was
now reigning instead. It might be of some interest to know if we
accepted his invitation. Our answer was about on this line: "We thank
you for your invitation to assist in meetings in your church, but
inasmuch as you have placed an embargo on the stream of holiness as a
second work of grace, which is the only way any one ever received it, we
feel if we should accept the invitation under such conditions we would
be selling Jesus Christ at a less figure than Judas got for Him. And
furthermore, may not that peace and quietude of which you speak relative
to the church, be the quietude of the graveyard instead of a live
church?" Suffice it to say, we did not receive any further invitation.
It is a very easy thing to compromise both as preachers and laymen, and
accommodate ourselves to cooled off environments, till we are a very
part of the thing ourselves. As long as God has provided a warm home for
His sheep and lambs, let us see to it that we have the benefit of the
same. Amen!