The first element in a symmetrical life is WORK.
Three-fourths of our time is probably spent in work. Of course
the meaning of it is that our work should be just as religious as
our worship, and unless we can work for the glory of God three-fourths
of life remains unsanctified.
The proof that work is religious is that most of Christ's life was
spent in work. During a large part of the first thirty years of
His life He worked with the hammer and the plane, making ploughs and
yokes and household furniture. Christ's public ministry occupied
only about two and a half years of His earthly life; the great
bulk of His time was simply spent in doing common everyday tasks,
and ever since then work has had a new meaning.
When Christ came into the world He was revealed to three deputations
who went to meet and worship Him. First came the shepherds, or
working class; second, the wise men, or student class; and third,
the two old people in the temple, Simeon and Anna; that is to say,
Christ is revealed to men at their work, He is revealed to men at
their books, and He is revealed to men at their worship. It was
the old people who found Christ at their worship, and as we grow
older we will spend more time exclusively in worship than we are
able to do now. In the mean time we must combine our worship with
our work, and we may expect to find Christ at our books and in our
common task.
Why should God have provided that so many hours of every day should
be occupied with work? It is because
Work makes men.
A university is not merely a place for making scholars, it is
a place for making Christians. A farm is not a place for growing
corn, it is a place for growing character, and a man has no
character except that which is developed by his life and thought.
God's Spirit does the building through the acts which a man performs
from day to day. A student who cons out every word in his Latin
and Greek instead of consulting a translation finds that honesty
is translated into his character. If he works out his mathematical
problems thoroughly, he not only becomes a mathematician, but becomes
a thorough man. It is by constant and conscientious attention to
daily duties that thoroughness and conscientiousness and honorableness
are imbedded in our beings. Character is
The music of the soul,
and is developed by exercise. Active use of the power entrusted
to us is one of the chief means which God employs for producing the
Christian graces. Hence the religion of a student demands that he
be true to his work, and that he let his Christianity be shown to
his fellow students and to his professors by the integrity and the
conscientiousness of his academic life. A man who is not faithful
in that which is least will not be faithful in that which is great.
I have known men who struggled unsuccessfully for years to pass
their examinations who, when they became Christians, found a new
motive for work and thus were able to succeed where previously they
had failed. A man's Christianity comes out as much in his work as
in his worship.
Our work is not only to be done thoroughly, but it is to be
done honestly. A man is not only to be honorable in his academic
relations, but he must be honest with himself and in his attitude
toward the truth. Students are not entitled to dodge difficulties,
they must go down to the foundation principles. Perhaps the truths
which are dear to us go down deeper even than we think, and we will
get more out of them if we dig down for the nuggets than we will
if we only pick up those that are on the surface. Other theories
may perhaps be found to have false bases; if so, we ought to know
it. It is well to take our surroundings in every direction to see
if there is deep water; if there are shoals we ought to find out
where they are. Therefore, when we come to difficulties, let us
not jump lightly over them, but let us be honest as seekers after
truth.
It may not be necessary for people in general to sift the doctrines
of Christianity for themselves, but a student is a man whose business
it is to think, to exercise the intellect which God has given him
in finding out the truth. Faith is never opposed to reason, thought
it is sometimes supposed by Bible teachers that it is; but you
will find it is not. Faith is opposed to sight, but not to reason,
thought it is not limited to reason. In employing his intellect
in the search for truth a student is drawing nearer to the Christ
who said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." We talk a great
deal about Christ as the way and Christ as the life, but there is
a side of Christ especially for the student: "I am the truth,"
and every student ought to be a truth-lover and a truth-seeker for
Christ's sake.