The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-07-23

~ $500 ~
Practicalities have a place in exist
ence, as we'll as lofty sentiments. A
good test of any ideal is whether 1t
can live in the atmosphere of every
dayness. Peter was a rank and i'm
possible sentimentalist, and the fore
runner of tribe of unrealists. when
he proposed that they build booths
on the Mount of TRANSPORTATION and
stay there. Jesus, with the calm
good sense which invariably marked
his utteranees, forebade it, and led the
disciples down to the plain where peo-
pie lived.
There they found a lunatic. An an
ti-climaxi Not so; that is life. There
are slums as we'll as suburbs; dark
sordidness as we'll as saintliness. Both
must be taken into the reckoning. But
the power of the mountain top may be
carried down to the needs of the plain.
That is the worlds hope. The value
of all times of inspiration is that they
may be Wrought out where men suf-
fer and toll and weep and laugh. The
glories of revelation, the Transporting
realizations of God. are all to be
transmitted into deeds of human SER
vice and lives of holy power. To that
end were Moses and Elijah and the
Greater One in whom the Father was
well pleased.
New Power for New Living.
Terse comments for July "a. "a Life
Lived With Christ" GAL 2l2o; i
John 5:1-12.
BY WILLIAM tt ELLIS
Except Christ be in US we have no
hope of glory.
When the Spirit of Christ fills the
heart he drives out the spirit of crit
icism. Holiness is never manifest by
finding fault with the unholiness of
others. Love. long suffering and
gentleness are invariable fruits of the
Spirit.
without Christ. without purity.
peace and power.
If we labor to pile up good deeds
for which we may be rewarded at the
judgment our motives for service will
be wrong and We may go unrewarded.
But If We give ourselves to ministry,
simply because the Spirit of Christ
possesses us. then our works will glor-
ify him indeed. The motive of min
istry is more important in Gods sight
than its results.
Peace, in the highest sense. cannot
be known outside of Christ He it
is who gives US. in place of our rest
lessness, striving. selfishness and dis
content, peace that the world can
not take away.
Growth glorifies God. Every in
creasing Christian is a testimony to
the reality of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. We are doing acceptable SER
vice for our Master when we are sim
ply growing.
Christianity is less a method of out
ward conduct than a spirit of inward
life. We possess religion when we pos
sess Christ. But without his presence
in the heart. no code of ethics or
course of action can make US Chris
tians.
Christ's calls are often calls to sac
rif1ce. We cannot follow him without
leaving all else behind. He does not
use the disciple who will not let go
his hold upon the world and all that
pertains thereto. Yet by this call to
service, the Savior also calls unto a
newness and richness and largeness of
life that more than compensates for
the loss of all else.
The Spirit filed life is emnty of
self. When Christ comes in. self goes
out The two are incompatible When
Jesus begins to reign he dethrones
selflshness. If there is to be a new
lie, tHeI6 must De an utter surrender
of the old will. with all its ways. The
presence of God in a PERSONS heart
is proved by a character of unseifish-
ness and service. 1t is impossible for
Christ to dwell in a selfish heart. for
to do so would be to share an idols
throne.
This is advanced truth which Paul
teaches when he talks about the be-
levers Identification with Christ 1t
is one of the most precious truths in
the Bible. The redeemed are dead to
sin and their lives are hid with Christ
in God. Henceforth it is no longer
they that live, but Christ that lives in
them. Their present life is a life of
faith made possible by the Son of God
who loved them and gave himself for
them. 1t is completely wrapped in
God. 1t exists by his power, through
his wisdom and for his glory Its be-
ginning and end is Christ; he is all
and in all.
At times we are tempted to think
that our own faiIings are Gods fail
ures. But though man may err, God
stands sure.
The Christians is the happiest life,
because 1T is lived in Him who is joy
incarnate. The other religions of the
world are religions of penance, of
fasting, of suffering and of gloom, but
| the Christians strong confidence is in
the bright Sun of righteousness, sin
| whose presence there is fullness of
| joy
| 1t was over the rocky thirty-three
year long road that led to Calvary
that even Jesus travelled to his tri-
umph; and by the same path every
disciple is to progress to perfection.
1t is when rooted in Christ that
| we bear the fruits of the Spirit These
| are nnSSihle only to those 1uhnsa life