The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1913-09-02


blessed privilege. Do you remember
the story of the artist who painted
) such wonderful pictures? Many art
lists sought to find out the secret of
his wonderful coloring, but he bowed
his head low over the canvass and
painted on. Artists went to foreign
countries and bought the costliest pig
ments, painted with them, and for a
while the colors seemed to hold, but
afterwards they faded, while the pic
lures of that artist grew redder and
redder, and artist himself grew whittier
and whittier. By and by he died, and
when they laid him out they found in
his breast an old wound. They learn
ed the secret. His pictures lived be-
cause he painted with his own hearts
blood. If we possessed ourselves that
devotion to Christ which expressed it.
self in working, loving, joyful SER
vice, we would perform what we do
for Him not because we must; but be-
cause we cannot help it; we would
have that joy of giving ourselves, and
all that we have and are, to the Master
because we love Him so.
The Widows Mite.
Another mark of devotion, that is
the giving of all that we have in the
cause of Christ, not holding back any
thing. A pastor of Denver tells this
| incident He. went out not long ago to
bury poor old woman. He went to
one of the richest men and said, 81
want you to give me some money to
help bury this poor SOUL" "Oh, you
are always asking me for money.
will have to help you, suppose, to
bury the poor old soul. | will give
you the widows mite" THANK you!"
He took off his hat, his handkerchief
and spread it on the ground; then he
took off his overcoat and spread it out
What is the matter with your" said
the rich man, "are you geing crazy?"
ooh, no but you said you were going
to give me the widows mite, and that
was all she had. If you are going to
| give me all you have | must have
something to bold it, Oh, the JOY OF
giving what God wants. not receiving
from Him. Not to receive, but to give,
that is a mark of devotion.
have very dear friend. Every
| time think of that friend, instinc-
lively comes to my mind the thought,
what can | do for Him? The more my
love for that friend grows, the more
constant the thought becomes, what
can | do to make him happy? Some
times it becomes almost pain, the de-
sire to do something to make my
friend happier than he is. Is there
not something like that in devotion to
Jesus Christ?
/ want to remind you yet once more
that this devotion to Christ means a
true and loyal confidence in him. And
that banishes all doubt What we
have to contend with in this day and
generation is doubt. We have to con-
tend with not SO much in ourselves,
but because it is thrown at us, some
times from the pulpits whose preach
ers have not made up their minds
about the truth and have no business
to be preaching; from theological
magazines and theological literature,
from church papers which ought to
know better, from peculiar papers
which do not know better.
An editorial the other day said the
old saying, 81 think, therefore am"
is out of date; that it ought to read, 81
doubt, therefore | am" He said that
every man worth his salt, doubts.
Doubt is one of the most detestable
things in the world. BY and bye it
doesn't even know whether it is it.
self or not. At a conference number
OF years ago a young girl who had
been educated at Bryn Mawr came to
me and said, 81 have been so upset
by teaching in Psychology, can you tell
me whether | am myself or not?" tt
was very embarrassing question. II
didn't want to tell her that she wasn't
because she might have resented it
| didn't want to tell her that she was
because she might not have believed it.
Like the fellow who swallowed a dol |
lar, he didn't know whether he was a
dollar out or dollar in The Chris
tlan has no business to doubt. The
sin OF Judas wasn't betraying Jesus |
Oh, no, that was an awful sin, but ] |
don't know that the betrayal of the |
blessed Master was any worse than
the denial of him three times with an
oath; it was hanging himself, instead |
OF doing as Peter did, gsing out ana
weeping bitterly. The Lord could
have forgiven Judas as well as Peter, |
ii Judas hadn't doubted His love.
Doubt therefore, is one of the mean.
est things in the world, because it
makes God lie. Christ says, 81 will
take care of you" We say "Oh, Lord.
life is so hard, I wonder if l will get
through" The Lord says, Nobody
cares for me-" Isn't that true, that
doubts enter our religious life, and
today we attempt to ask the question
did Christ die on the cross for my re-
generation? We attempt to ask all
sorts OF things which the devil puts
into our minds, and we must fight
against them, because we cannot be
loyal to Christ SO long as those doubts
are in our minds. l had letter from
a friend, few days ago, saying that
he didn't quite understand something
about me, and then he went on to tell
what it was, but, he added, ct want
you to know that don't doubt you for
an instant, because / know and un-
derstand perfectly" Oh, / say there is
a friend worth having. This little
thing which he does not understand,
which | cannot make him understand,
doesn't make him doubt me; and the
n ~ ,t@% l.,