OUR MANNER OF LIFE HERE
OUR MANNER OF LIFE HERE
A christian’s life on earth is the most peculiar one. He is the object of the love of God, that from its immensity and power can secure everything good to its object, while on the other hand a christian is exposed to the most trying circumstances here. Until we distinctly understand that we are born of God, and also born of the flesh, we shall never understand this great contrariety.
If a christian would begin here, as simply a child of God, looking for nothing but what came from God, he would find how thoroughly he is the object of His infinite love.
As a rule, christians want God to minister to the man in the flesh; they judge of His love by their circumstances. For instance, if he is poor, he would like God to make him rich; but if he turns to God, He makes him happy in his poverty. If he cannot sleep, thoughts of God come with such freshness to his soul that he is better off than if he were asleep. Thus born of God and poor, you may be supremely [p. 259] happy; whereas, if you are seeking to be rich or to make yourself comfortable, it is not the love of God you are looking to, but that He should minister to your own selfish desires. If a man is very poor he has more occasion to look to God, whereas if he has means he has what may divert him from dependence on God.
The one thing for a christian is to find out the clear path in which to do God’s pleasure. It is not whether he has the means, but whether it is God’s pleasure for him to use the means. It is not our wants that cause our trials, but our using earthly means to alleviate our wants, instead of the heart turning to God for alleviation. It may be asked - why does God give means to some and not to others? I always find that means are a test to every christian. If you have the means in your hand, of course you are at liberty to use them; but the secret is whether you use them according to God’s purpose for you, or according to your own tastes and desires. As a rule, I believe that any christian who judges himself will find, if he studies the course of things carefully, that it was his use of means that had got him into every trouble and disappointment, and in the end it was God that had to get him out of the trouble, as much as if he had not had the means to use.
I have found after a lengthened experience, that the very thing one has most desired, if attained by human means, actually ends in bringing about the very sorrow which one desired to avoid, and which one would probably not have had if one had not had the power to gratify one’s desires. Hence I see that the use of means is the test as to whether one is cast on God or on human methods.
You have to begin with the fact that you are an object with God. If you do not begin with this, you become an object to yourself, and I believe the great value of having means in this world, is to show how one can waive present gratification in order to serve [p. 260] others, and thus to secure a reward hereafter. According to Luke 16, the steward had all the property under his control, but he expended it, not on himself, but for the benefit of others, and he had accordingly a future reward.
Judging of God by what He is, I should say a man dependent on Him without means would, in the long run, be as well cared for as a man with plenty of means. I believe there is no happier path for a man than to be dependent on the Lord from day to day for support through his daily work. It is right for him to have daily labour, and it is happy for him to be satisfied with it in dependence on the Lord. It is better than having private means, or being dependent on anyone but God. A missionary who could work with his own hands “the thing which is good” in dependence on the Lord would, I believe, have a happier time than one who was dependent on the gifts of others.
The “work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4: 5) might be your duty, and you could look to the Lord for your remuneration; the whole secret is whether you are doing your duty - “If any man does not like to work, neither let him eat”. (2 Thessalonians 3: 10) The question is whether it is to the Lord you are looking for support and supply; your daily labour may be your duty, but if the demands of the Lord’s service call for it, you certainly must give up daily labour; yet that man will surely come to sorrow, who does not work as hard in the Lord’s service as he would in his secular calling.
Scarborough,