Ellsworth American., 1906-07-25
CHRISTIAN ENDEAvoR.


ropic-Divided lives.-Matt. vi. "a; II
Kings xvii. SS-41.a
There are three classes Of people in
the world relative to God. a There
are those who serve God and Ged
alone. OF such we have an example in
Elijah and the 1000 in Israel who had
never bowed the knee to Baal. (2)
There are those who absolutely refuse
to serve God at all They. leave Him
entirely out Of calculation IN the for
nation of their Ewes. in their aims and
hopes and ambitions. 80 Between
these two classes there Is one composed
of those who try TO serve both God
and Blal, to belong at the same time
to the kingdom of Christ and the king
dom OF the world. OF this class we
have frequent Illustrations in the his
tory of the ancient people of Cod, They
claimed to be Gods people. They
doubtless wore the distinctive dress of
the Israelites, they We're inhabitants OF
the land OF Canaan, they probably ad-
hered to some Of the rites and customs
of their religion, yet at the same time
they worshiped strange gods and
sought the debauching pleasures which
such worship held out to them. They
trstd to do two things, but they failed,
for the moment they bowed the knee to
idols they ceased to be the children Of
God and were no longer the children
OF His covenant promises. This at
tempted divided religious life Of an
cient Israel is a sad story, story of
shame dishonor and disaster and one
that should be warning TO every one
who has the faintest desire to be
child of God
History is a plain teacher. yet how
often its lessons are disregarded. The
failure of the Jews to live a satisfae-
tory divided religious life has been no
deterrent in the lives of many Chris
tians to undertake the same thing.
They attempted it in Christ's day, and
thousands are vainly attempting the
same thing today. They want TO be In
the kingdom of Christ and at the same
time In the kingdom of the world. But
It cannot be done. Such processing
Christians are In the world and not
in the kingdom of Christ. though they
may deceive themselves into thinking
that they are But God is not mock
ed" He knows where they belong.
The folly of such an attempt should be
self evident. II we truly love God we
will find joy and peace in our religion.
But what worldly, half hearted Chris
tian ever found happiness in serving
God? Their church work is a druGgery;
their worship in the house of the Lord
Is irksome and burdensone: their songs
of praise have the flavor of dirge; their
private devotions are dull and lifeless.
And many wonder why. The answer is
simple. 1t is because their whole
hearts are not In what they are doing;
their thoughts are divided, and, worse
than all, their lives are divided, II
they would give up the world and
throw their whole souls into the seTv-
ice of God they would experience
wonderful change. And until they do
religion viii always be nothing bat a
Hfeless drudgery, a form with no pow
tt. tAAL LtitAtd OTtFs. De tL4fiS-
tians or give up Christianity. Take
your place where you really belong If
you In heart belong to the world. 20 to
it but remember the consequences. II
you belong to Christ. give Him all. and
your religion will mean something to
You and to those about you.
Christ warns us against the attempt
at divided life. NO man can serve
two masters Some men think they
can, but Christ says. mo man" There
Is not so much as single exception 10
this law. Experience and common sense
corroborate Christ's statements. Two
ruling passions in the same life are i'm
possible One must In the end gain
absolute supremacy. Two gods are
just as impossible. Which will you
take-the God of heaven and of earth,
the God. your Father, or the gods OF
greed, of pleasure, of false ambition?
You have choice, but you can only
choose one. Make no mistake, for eter-
nal interests depend upon your deci-
sion.
BIBLE READINGS.
Gen. xix, 1926: Ex. xvi, Ills; Deut.
vi, is; Matt. V, 16; Luke xvii, 31,3T:
Acts iv. 1912; xvii. 22-25; Rom. i. 20
%; III Cor. vi, 1918; Col. Ill, II: John
Il, 1917.