The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-12-28
SATURDAY SERMON.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee.
I Timothy Ala.

Timothy Ala.
Large views mean large lives See
ing only what is near is called by ST.
mon Peter a kind of blindness. If so,
it is more common than astigmatism,
and the oculist can not help it. Most
Of lfe's troubles loom large simply
because we are too near them. We
see things out of perspective and of
proportion. Every body needs a meas
ure of detachment and stand-offish-
ness in his attitude toward life.
Mentally as well as physically it is
good occasionally to go to the noun
tain tops and take in the larger pros
poets and breathe the rarer air. Esv-
erybody needs to see beyond his own
cornf1elds and to rise above his own
job.
Nowadays they put up a sky-scrap-
er in year, and are talking of build
ing houses in a day. That is the TWEEN
tieth century way but God is in no
such rush. He takes time, having all
the time there is, especially when he
Is erecting something that will last.
He can create a mushroom overnight,
but usually his processes are slow and
untiring.
1t is rather amazing to the hurried
man of today to contemplate the
amount of time the Lord spent in the
development of his plans, from the
very beginning of all things to the es-
Enlistment of the Hebrew kingdom.
This old Jewish society well Illus
trates the patience of Jehovah. He
was willing to put up with slow
growth. He at the time had, and still
has, his eye on the goal of perfect
kingdom; and that goal is worth wait
ing for. That person follows Gods
way who works "unhasting, yet I'M
resting"
Most of the friction of life. and most |
of the crimes that stain the records |
of the courts, are due to the unsuc-
cessful efforts of people to get along !
with ono another.
This difficult problem of adjusting |
life to life is no new one. 1t was Gods |
before it was mans. One reason why !
the student of the early history of |
selected race conceives so great an |
admiration for Jehovah is because the |
latter was willing to put up with such |
poor creatures as Adam and Abraham, /
Jacob and Moses, and the whole trou-
blesome race of Israelites.
But one essential factor of a good |
is the ability to use the ma |
terials at hand. Each of us must |
form life and character out of the |
stuff nearest US. We can not people |
our sphere with perfect beings; but |
taking such as we have, we can try to
leave them a little more perfect than
we found them. All the wonders that
He performed God accomplished with
such poor material as those fbreless,
spineless, gelatinous children of Israel.
Out of them he made the worlds per-
sisting race, and the custodians of the
worlds true faith. AS the scientist
finds more true beauty and use in the
mud of the highway than the plain
man could ever fathom, so God dis
Germs in the least prepossessing hui
nan material possibilities beyond
measure.
There should be equality of oppor-
unity to all men, and in Gods ulti-
nate society all men will rise to the
leight of their possibilities; never
heless today. as long ago, there are
elect nations and elect people.
God does not call his people to sink
o the level of their surroundings, but
o adhere bravely to their own great
deals and to their own peculiar mis-
ion. We best serve the world by
Lchieving the highest personality for
ourselves. Whosoever is ambitious to
erve his own time must dare to be
Inherent from his own time. The
are forever the trans
ormers.