Evening star., 1904-01-02
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOR HOUR
Conducted by
GRACE LIVINGSTON HILL.
For January 3.

d
Topic: ''The Kind of Growth 1 Need in 1904 -
Ephesians 4: 11-18
II. And he gave some. apostles; and some,
prophets; and some evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;
IL. For the perfecting Of the saints. for
the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ:
13. Till We all come in the unity of the
faith, and of the knowledge of the Son OF
God, unto perfect man, unto the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ:
ii. That we henceforth be no more chill
dren, tossed to and fro, and carried about
with every wind Of doctrine. by the sleight
of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in weight to deceive;
15. But speaking the truth in love. may
grow up into Him in all things, which is the
head, even Christ:
16. From whom the whole body fifty join
ed together and compacted by that which
every joint supplieth, according to the eff
fectual working in the measure of every
part, maketh increase Of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love.
This is the time of year for the taking ac-
count of stock. Merchants take an invoice
of their goods and go over their books to
know how their business has grown. They
give special time and hard work to this
matter. You ask a business man at this
season to attend some gathering or take
upon himself some special responsibility,
and he will tell you his time is not his own
just now, but must be given, every hour of
it, to his business, until he knows exactly
where he stands in the business world,
what he has to live upon. how much he has
grown or whether he must retrench some
where. This he must know once year be-
fore he can safely go forward.
Does it not seem strange that in a matter
SO much more important we give SO little
time to taking account of stock as we do in
our own spiritual lives? We perhaps sit
down on New Year day for an hour, not
more at most, and glance hastily over our
mistakes. Then We make a few resolves
and go about our daily lives again feeling
greatly benefited by the promises we have
made ourselves that we will do better and
be more of success in the future, than we
have in the past
Let us make this meeting and this week a
special time of self-examination and of
comparing ourselves to the Pattern. that
we may know wherein, we have failed and
how we need to prow.'
The pastor and teachers, the sermons and
lessons that have been sent to us were all
as the sunlight and air and nourishing earth
to the plant. Have we gathered in of that
which was given us and sent out rootlets
and branches until sur growth is luxurfant
and such Christ would have eitf ea> f~--s-
And we must not be satisfied with a mere
shadowy likeness to the Son of God and
think because we have attained In some one
virtue we can go on secure and self-satis-
fed. 1t must be TIN we all come in the
unity of the faith (thtnk what unity of
faith will be) and Of the knowledge Of the
Son Of God, unto the perfect man." That Is
the ideal. THE measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ" Can you and I by
any possibility have come near that meas
ure during the past year? Have ye not
much yet to attain?
What a picture of ourselves Paul here
paints-"children tossed to and fro" by>
those who are plotting to deceive US! How
he beseeches that the members Of Christ's
body put aside childish things and rise to
their glorious privileges and duties. Speak
the truth in love-" Take just that one
thing. How many of us can do 1t? There
are great many people who pride thenl-
selves on speaking frankly. sincerely, but
there Is very little love about 1t. Indeed,
in some cases 1t grows into personal graf
tficatton of spite.
+ Then we are to grow up into Christ in all
things 1t is not enough that we are good
Sunday school teachers, when we cannot
keep our tempers at home. 1t Is not enough
that we are patient and piodding workers
in the home II we carry hard feeling of
woman who lives next door and Is a great
church worker but doesn't keep her house
tidy according to our ways Of thinking.
His church. just as the difrerent members
of the body each has its own
work. II any one of US has fail
ed In duty the whole body has suf-
fered In taking account of your Christian
ever remarked that 1t was q poor rim
down thing and not doing half as well as
1t used to do. or as some other society does?
II that Is SO are you positively sure that
you have had no part in that failure?
Have you done everything yourself that you
could possibly do to help it's work along?
Is your committee doing Its work well?
Even IL you are not chairman are you as a
member of that committee doing your in
dividual part In that committee as well al