_Starting Right_
"Every one over against his house," Nehemiah iii. 28. The first part of
the Book of Nehemiah gives us a striking picture of destruction, and as
we look about us we see a city in ruins: the walls are down; the homes
have been destroyed; the people are in despair, so great is the
desolation that even the temple has been defaced. When the tidings
concerning the havoc which has been wrought in the city of Jerusalem
reached Nehemiah he was well nigh heart-broken. Speaking about the
story that had been brought to him he said, "And they said unto me, The
remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in
great affliction and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem also is broken
down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire," Nehemiah i. 3. When
he reaches the city of Jerusalem he goes about to view the ruins, and
he thus describes his journey: "So I came to Jerusalem and was there
three days. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon
me; as also the king's words that He had spoken unto me. And they said,
Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this
good work," Nehemiah ii. 11 and 18.
This picture of despair as seen in the olden days in Jerusalem is almost
if not altogether being repeated to-day. The case is really desperate.
The need of Divine help in the re-construction of human lives has never
been greater. Hosts of men find the following testimony a description
of their own experience. It is a young university man who is speaking,
and before a great crowd of people he says:--
"Probably nine out of every ten of you men standing in front of me know
who I am and know my family well. You will no doubt be surprised to
hear of the awful experiences through which I have gone during the past
six months. Just six months ago, as most of you know, I was an active
Christian worker, and there are many of you in front of me who as
recently as last July sat and heard me preach. During the last six
months trouble came upon me, and in a weak moment, losing faith in God,
I took to drink, and sank as low as it is possible for any man to sink.
Not even the prodigal in the parable could have fallen lower than I
did. Disowned by my mother; cast aside by my brother and sisters;
despised by the members and officers of the church to which I belonged
and in which I preached, I was in every respect an outcast. Just before
Christmas, whilst tramping on the road, I actually took the shirt off
my back to sell it for drink, so miserable was I. My nights I spent in
the open fields, waking in the morning covered with frost. Something
seemed to compel me to attend the meetings in this city. I attended
night after night, and although the singing and the address had a
wonderful effect upon me, I kept struggling against the working of the
Spirit, until the singing of the chorus "I am Included," brought home
to me as never before, the fact that even I, wretched outcast that I
was, had not gone too far. I then and there made up my mind to accept
the promise of John iii. 16. From that time I have realized, as never
before, that Christ went to Calvary not so much for the world, as He
did for me. And I intend to devote the rest of my life to winning souls
for Him."
There is surely cause for great alarm because of the present condition
of affairs, and for the following reasons: Home life is not what it
used to be. In the olden times the home was a harbour into which
tempest-tossed souls came day after day, and thus protected, had time
to regain lost strength and go forth again to battle with the storm. It
was once true that fathers were priests in their own households and
mothers were saints. The best memory that some of us have is that which
centres in a home where love ruled and reigned; where Christ was
honoured; where the Bible was read, explained and loved, and where the
very atmosphere was like heaven. In many instances to-day this is
missing and he is to be pitied who has not such a memory as this, and
such an influence for good in his life. The family altar in too many
households has been broken down or given up. "What led you to Christ?"
was the question asked of a distinguished Christian worker. And the
answer quickly given was, "My father's prayers at the family altar.
They followed me through my manhood and compelled me eventually to
accept Christ." When the family altar is gone from a home, it is like
the taking away of a strong foundation from a building or depriving the
arch of its keystone. Better sacrifice everything than this spirit and
practice of prayer in the home.
It is barely possible that because of conditions family prayers may not
be conducted to-day as in other days, but there is at least time for a
verse of scripture and a prayer out of a full heart, and the influence
of even so brief a service will keep the members of the household from
many a failure.
Church attendance is not what it once was. The old-fashioned family pew
is a thing of the past in too many cases. In other days the father, the
mother, and the children attended divine worship in the house of God.
They sang the hymns of the church together; they worshipped God with
the same spirit of devotion; they listened to the minister's preaching
and they came forth from such a service clothed with a power that made
them able to stand against the mightiest influences for evil. Because
the family pew is out of date many boys are wandering, and many girls
have gone astray.
With the beginning of the fourth chapter of Nehemiah there is a change
in the story as told by the Prophet. There is a ring of triumph when he
announces: "So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together
unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work," Nehemiah
iv. 6. And the completeness of his work is described when he says: "Now
it came to pass when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors,
and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed ..."
Nehemiah vii. 1. I am sure it is quite true that out from all the
despair which sometimes appals us, we shall come into the same complete
victory. But if we are to win others to Christ and if our work is to be
a work of prevention, so that our children shall not go astray and our
friends may not wander, then it will be essential that we should, like
Nehemiah of old, begin to build everyone over against his own house. It
is a sad thing to find so many people in the world who are a public
success and a private failure. Great superintendents of Sunday Schools,
and poor fathers; experienced Sunday School teachers, and inconsistent
in their own homes; eloquent preachers and poor illustrations of the
spirit of Jesus; famed for piety as revealed to the public eye and
quite as famed for lack of piety, when living out of the lime light, in
the common round of daily duties with those who know us best and ought
to speak of us most highly.
If our work is to be as God would have it where shall it begin? By all
means let it begin with ourselves. There is a text of Scripture which
every Christian must say over and over. He might begin the day with it
and it might not be amiss for him to say it over before he closes his
eyes in sleep. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my
thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me," Psalm cxxxix. 23,
24. It is quite unnecessary to study the methods of men if we cannot
bear the test of God's searching eye.
We must be right in our own homes. In a meeting conducted recently in
Wales a gentleman rose to say: "I came to the meeting on Friday
afternoon and made a covenant with God that I would speak to someone
about Christ. It laid so hold of my heart that I went home and spoke to
my little girl. I asked her if she loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and she
said, 'Yes, I do.' I said, 'Will you accept Jesus as your personal
Saviour?' 'Yes, I am willing to' she said. I went to the steel works,
and had been praying that God would use me. I asked the young man with
whom I was working if he were a Christian. He looked black at me, but I
asked him to be honest before God. In a moment his face changed as he
said without hesitation, 'I will accept Jesus as my Saviour now.'
"I was working during the night, and it came to food time, so I asked
several of the men if they would come into the smith shop and have a
word of prayer. There was a young man there whose little boy I had
spoken to. This young man came to me at three o'clock in the morning to
tell me that he would accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. I asked
some of the men if they would come up to my house and have a little
prayer meeting after work, at six o'clock in the morning. They came up
and I spoke to them, quoting the texts John iii. 16 and John v. 24.
Some of the men present were not saved. I asked them if they really
understood the Scriptures, and they told me they did. 'Now,' I said,
'will you not accept Jesus as your personal Saviour?' and one who was
in the smith shop told me that he had definitely given himself to God
at three o'clock that morning. Then I asked a boy of fifteen if he
understood the words. 'Yes,' he said, so I asked him if he would not
accept Christ. 'Yes' he replied, 'I will.' The following night I spoke
to another in the works, concerning his soul, and asked him if he had
fully surrendered, because I knew he was in trouble. About one o'clock
I spoke to him and said, 'Will you give yourself to the Lord now?'
'No,' he said, 'not now.' 'Well,' I said, 'come to the smith shop at
food time and have a word of prayer.' After food time he came out, and
started again at his work. Presently he came across to me. 'Well,' I
said, 'have you fully surrendered?' 'Yes, Tom,' he said, 'I have given
myself to Christ, now.'"
Beginning in the home it is quite easy to go out into a wider circle
and serve. The tendency, however, is to begin in some public place, and
oftentimes because of this we fail to win those who work by our side,
who sit with us at our own table and who live with us day after day and
for whom we are specially responsible. It will also be necessary for us
to enlarge the circle and reach the people in our own places of business.
Two business men journeyed into a New England city together for twenty
years. One of them was a Christian, the other was not. They were both
dying the same day, and the man who was not a Christian when he heard
that his friend was dying, had a right to say to his wife, as he did,
"It is a strange thing that my friend and I have known each other so
well, and love each other so dearly, that he has allowed me to come to
this day without a warning."
A business man rose in a meeting to say, "I have been greatly concerned
about one young man who works in my office. I asked him if he would not
come to the office a little earlier this morning. When he came and we
were alone I asked him if he knew why I had got him to come a little
earlier. When he told me that he did not, I said to him 'I am a
Christian, I have never spoken to you about Christ and I have asked you
to come this morning that I might explain the way to you and urge you
to take your stand for Him.' That morning I had the great joy of
leading my employee to Christ. I gave him a little pocket Testament in
which I wrote his name, and under his name I wrote this Scripture,
'Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee,' and after that I
signed my name. Three days later," said the business man, "the young
man of whom I speak, led three others to Christ, one of them was the
head book-keeper in my office."
If we are to be successful soul winners it is essential not only that
we should get right with God but that we should keep right with Him.
There must be a quick confession of sin and a quick turning away from
all that would work against Christ. Our friends with whom we live and
labour are keen critics, and as a rule, just ones. They know when we
are wrong and nothing so hinders a testimony as to allow a wrong to go
unrighted. When before our own households and with those who know us
best, and by whose side we toil, in shop, or store, or office, or with
those whom we employ, we keep ourselves unspotted from the world, we
have an unanswerable argument for Christ and a testimony as regards the
value of following Him which cannot be gainsayed.