Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1909-07-09
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LOYALTY TO CHRIST.


Loyalty to Christ begins in the
heart. We must have Him supremacy.
"He that loveth father or mother
more than Me Is not worthy OF Me;
and he that loveth son or daughter
more than Me is not worthy of Me"
Nothing makes worthy discipleship II
love be lacking. In these days Chris
ton activity is emphasized and re-
ouired. Never was the Church OF
Christ as active as it is now. This
is beautiful. But with all our activity
we may fear lest we are not loving
Christ as we should.
We are in danger of being SO busy
in the Lords work that we cannot De
enough with the Lord in loves fellow
ship. He may say to us: Il like your
works, your tolls, your service, but
miss the love you gave me at first.
There is real danger that we get SO
busy in striving to be active Chris
tians, so absorbed in our tasks and
duties, our efforts to bring others into
the fold, that Christ Himself shall be
less loved and shall miss our COM
muning with Him. Loyalty means
first of all heart devotion. Has Christ
really the highest place in your heart!
It is not your work He wants most
it is you. 1t is beautiful to do things
for HINT is still more beautiful to
make a home for Him in your heart.
A young man, at great cost, mas
brought from many countries the most
beautiful materials he could find and
has built as a memorial to his dead
wife an exquisite little chapel. Only
a few men could do anything so rare,
so lovely But the poorest OF us can
enthrone our loved ones in our hearts,
and the poorest of us can please
Christ even more by making little
sanctuary in our hearts for Him.
Then there must be loyalty of life.
If there be true, supreme love IN the
heart, there should be shining char
acter. Here again we need to guard
against devotion to the work and SER
vice of Christ while the impression is
not to the honor of Christ. He is
very patient with our infirmities and
our standings. If He were not, who
of us ever could hope to please Him?
We are inexperienced, mere learners,
at first We mis-spell our words. We
b1under in our grammar. We sing
out of tune. Some of us are just be-
ginning our Christian life and are dis
couraged already because we have fail
ed to be what we mean to be, and to
live as beautifully as we were sure we
would live.
Christ does not want us ever to give
up. Though We stumble when we are
learning to walk, He wants us to get
up and try again. Though we are de-
feated in our battle tomorrow, He
wants us to rise at once and keep on
fighting. A true soldier may be
wounded, may be beaten in many bat
ties, but he never is a deserter, never
is a traitor He is always loyal. It
is only when we desert Christ, turn
away from Him, become false to Him,
that we really fail. You never can
fail if you are true, if you are faith
full.
There must be loyalty also in char
acter. Here is a man, for example,
who bears the name of Christian. But
he is not loving-he is hard to live
with, suspicious, jealous, resentful. He
has not Joy, is morose, gloomy, a sad
man. He has not peace-he is fret
full, anxious, restless, full of fear and
foreboding. He has not meekness-
he is impatient, irascible, unmercifui.
Lacking of qualities of love, joy, peace,
meekness, can you call such a man
loyal follower of Christ? He may be
a strenuous Christian so far as activi-
ties are concerned, prominent mem
organizations of the church. Yet he is
not man you would call beautiful
Christian. Loyalty must be Christ-like
in character, in disposition, in spirit,
in the shining of the face, in the low
ingness of the heart.
good woman deplored her lack of
usefulness. Yet many knew that her
daily life was constant benediction.
She sweetened home, blessed house
full of children and young people, and
manifested the love of Christ among
her neighbors. Was not that being an
active Christian? There is an actiy-
ity of being as we'll as of doing.
Loyalty to Christ demands of US the
uttermost of sincerity and truth in all
our living. God desires truth in the
inward parts. Yet are there not men
who claim to be Christians and are
living a lie? There are lives that are
honeycombed by all manner of I'M
faithfulness, dishonesties, injustices
and injuries to others and by many
secret sins. What does the lesson of
loyalty to Christ have to teach us
about these things? Are covered sins
safely hidden? Are they out Of sight
forever? Oh, no; be sure your sin
will find you out. The word is not
"Po c1re your sin will he found ont !"