Paul's life, so full of fine things, than the thought of patient
waiting upon God's plan--His plan _for you_. And it does not mean to
sit still; rather the contrary. "All things come to him who (hustles
while he) waits." That is the revised version of an old saw, and I
like it better.
Here is a sad case of a young fellow I know. He had an ambition to
shine, but he wasn't willing to do the tedious grinding and polishing
so vitally necessary to shining. He had a chance at college, but he
also wanted to be a social lion, all too soon. He could not afford it
in the first place; he couldn't spare the time from his studies, in
the next place; but he spent his dad's money anyhow and he let his
classes go bang. He did the social stunt--on credit. Result: he got
E's and F's on his grades and he was shipped. The faculty regards that
kind of a student as demoralizing to the morale of a first-class
institution. In fact he could not be called a student; he was an
"inmate," and it is hard to make an alumni out of inmates.
This young fellow landed back home for the summer, "out of luck," in
debt, and a cruel disappointment to his doting parents. He had done
the social stunt, but he picked the fruit before it was ripe, and now
it's hurting him inside.
_He flew his kite in the rain!_
He decided he would make good by being a civil engineer. He wanted to
be a civil engineer right away, but when he started in he found that
the first stages of civil engineering consisted in carrying a chain
and a rod up and down hill in the heat and taking orders from a smart
chap who looked through a telescope and made notes, so within a few
days he quit; he wasn't willing to pay the price. He thought he would
play the violin, but he wasn't willing to spend hours practising the
scales and simple fingering, so he laid aside the violin. He wanted to
play Schubert's Serenade right off, but on learning the cost, he
contented himself with whistling it.
Fellows, he is of the sort that make up the great throng of
fourth-raters in the world to-day, drifting here and there; or
settling down with a family on his hands and a little two-by-four job
to eke out a bare living. And you fellows may as well face this fact:
you've got to _stint_, if you're going to pull off a stunt. No stint,
no stunt. Stinting is only another name for work and patience and
economy combined, and it brings its inevitable fruit--Success!
_Read Acts 16:6-15._
L
THE BEDOUIN SLAVE
Say, fellows, I heard a story from the banks of the Nile which stirred
my blood. It may be only a legend, but it contains a big thought, and
I want you to have it. All day upon the hot sands the battle had
raged, and as the sun was setting a Bedouin chief fell, mortally
wounded. Quickly his watchful body-servant eased his master's dying
form from the back of the Arabian steed and dragged him out of the
thick fighting to a protected spot where he might say his last word
and die in comparative quiet. The chieftain's words were few but
significant. He simply said to his man: "Go and tell Allah that I
come." The loyal slave knew what it meant: only his spirit could carry
a message like that, and the clay house it occupied must be destroyed
before the spirit would depart.
Possibly he hesitated as his hand grasped the hilt of his dagger, for
life was sweet even to a slave; back home was a slave-maid in the
house of his master, and she had been promised as his bride upon
return from this campaign in the valley of the Nile. Many a daydream
of the future had served to shorten the tedious marches over the hot
sands as he rode beside his master. Long after the camp was asleep
the slave gazed at the star which seemed to guard her whose life and
future were bound up in his own. But only a moment he paused; one more
look at his chief, whose fast ebbing blood stained the sand upon which
he lay--this chief who was not only his master by right of actual
ownership, but one who had been always his benefactor and friend--one
searching look into the eyes whose merest glance he had learned to
interpret for a last sign of recognition; then with a firm,
unfaltering hand he drew his blade and thrust it deep into his own
heart, that his spirit might be free to fly "to Allah," with the
announcement of his master's coming.
Now, fellows, there is something fine about that, even if it
be only a romance. Loyalty that rises to the height of complete
self-forgetfulness challenges the best that is in us. But, after all,
the picture falls to pieces because it is built upon a false faith and
a suicide. I am glad that you and I can to-day, in real life, take
part in something finer--something requiring just as superb loyalty,
and for a Cause that is really worth the best that is in us.
Jesus Christ is the Chief of all chieftains. His last words upon earth
were, "Go ye--tell them." They were not the words of a dying chief,
but of one gloriously alive and triumphant over death, the last and
greatest enemy of all; not the command of one powerless in the
presence of his foes, but one who could say, "All power is given unto
me in heaven and in earth;" not a master who must send his obedient
slave on a fearful and futile mission alone, but one who girds his
courier with the assurance, "And lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world."
Saul caught a great vision of service when Jesus spoke to him in the
way. Prostrate upon the ground in the blinding light, Saul did not
say, "Lord, let me die!" He said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to
_live and do_?" You and I may say just as big and fine a thing as that
to our Lord to-day. Jesus' command to Saul was in substance, "Go
ye--tell them." It is the same to you and me.
Will it cost you anything to obey? Yes, it will cost you your life.
But not in the hopeless way the Arab's slave gave his. Your hand is on
the hilt of the dagger, but Jesus is not requiring a man so much to
die for Him these days; He is calling for living couriers, those who
will give their lives _in life_ for Him. So you plunge the dagger deep
into--not your heart, but your false pride--that thing which keeps you
back from "announcing" your Master's Name. You plunge it deep into
that thing in your life plan which would interfere with a real program
of witnessing for Jesus. With God's help you stab that habit of
thought or act which stifles your impulse to do His will and
embarrasses you in trying to serve Him. It is what Paul meant when he
said to the Galatians, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the
flesh with the passions and lusts."
Fellows, every one of us can be a herald of our Master's coming to the
souls about us who have not realized His near approach. No matter what
our "business" or "profession," if it be a fair and honest one we can
make it a help to our witnessing. There is no proper relationship in
life which may not afford the opportunity to tell about Jesus Christ
and His deathless love.
Saul became a messenger of Christ for his whole time. Comparatively
few are called of God into the ministry; but every boy should
seriously face the question, under God's guidance, whether or not he
be one of those few. Take a pencil and draw a vertical line on a sheet
of paper. On one side the line put down the reasons why you should go
into the ministry; on the other side, the reasons why you should not.
Be honest with yourself and with God. Weigh each reason, for or
against, upon your knees. Ask God to give you a clear vision of the
course He wants you to take. With all the earnestness of your soul,
ask Him, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Be still and listen.
And then, fellows, you will hear that unmistakable but "still small
voice," and He will send you forth surefooted in a path plainly
marked.
Oh, fellows, it is great to have clear running orders, with such a
Message and such a Master! Don't miss it.
_Read Matthew 28:16-20._
* * * * * *
CHURCH AND SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK
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