The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1913-09-02
@DtyOTION TO CHRIST
POcatellO Divine Addresses Great
Audience in the Park.

| OSdttlIu DlVlut AUuTeSSeS Uren
Audience in the Park.
Before a great audience, composed
of members of all denominations, Rev
G. E. Van der Maaten of Pocatello, de
/ livered the closing address of the Ida
no Christian Endeavor convention il
the city park, Sunday evening. Ht
spoke as follows
Devotion to Christ."-II Cor. SIS
1t is utterly impossible for one t.
do Christian work unless he is abso
lutely loyal to Christ. That loyalty
means devotion in heart to Christ. The
difficulty with us Professionals is, tina,
while we believe God has ransomed us
and he is governing us, l sometimes
fear we have lost a great deal of that
personal devotion. We hold to faith
we believe in missionary effort, we be-
| lieve with all our might in Individual
responsibility, but on, | wonder how
many of us feel like bowling down be-
fore Jesus Christ in our hearts, not
necessarily with our bodies That was
a great saying, when we gathered to-
gether once in England, where men
were discussing other great men
some one said, IF Shakespeare should
| come into the room, we should all
stand up" Another said, IF Mendel-
sohn should come in, we should all
grasp his hand" YES, but if Christ
came" said one, 1--WE should all kneel
| down. Yes they feel there should
| be in the heart that devotion to Christ
| which the apostles felt when they min
| istered unto Him, and which all true
Christians have felt when their work
| have been worthy. Personal devotion
| to Christ! That has two or three very
clear characteristics.
First of all it is the love of the
heart for Jesus Christ We ought to
love him above everything and every
body else. The very first thought in
the morning ought to be thought of
God. Three things l wish you would
say the moment your eyes are opened,
accoustoming yourself to say them, so
they will come instantly to you when
you awake:
l. | praise my God this day.
2. | give myself to God this day.
8. I ask God to Help me this day.
Just think of these three things.
Oh, don't you wake up beginning to
think of what you shall eat or drink,
the toll of life, which after all, is the
incident not the end of living; don't
think of the trouble and sadness of
life, but think of your Christ. Remem-
Der those three things That devotion
to Jesus must run all through the
hours of the day. Don't forget that
conscious love for Him, that love
which shall express itself in praise.
What is prayer? Asking God for
what we want? I was taught that,
and it is a terrible thing to teach
children bad things. That isn't pray
err. Be careful how you mislead chill
dren. little girls mother, who was
putting her to bed, said, Susie YOU
go to sleep, God is with you; | am 60
ing down stairs to sit with papa" At
ter few moments Susies voice was
heard from the stairs, Mama, I wish
you would come and sit with God and
let me sit with papa" Prayer isn't
asking God. Prayer is communion
with God, and the very first thought
OF prayer, the very first expression of
prayer would be telling God that we
love. The very first thing that we
want to say when we pray to God on
our knees every night and morning is
not, 20 God, give me this or that" but,
20 God, love Thee" and if we accus-
tom ourselves to say that in the begin
ming Of our prayer, we will find more
and more that devotion comes again in
magnificent recognition of what He
is to us, that He, as st. Paul saws. is
our life, for in Him we live, and move,
and have our being. Without Christ /
am nothing, with Christ am every
thing and can do all things. The won
derful power of Christ is the individ-
ual life! 81 live, yet not /, for Christ
liveth in me-" Do we realize it? Does
not physical life itself come from God?
Put your hand upon your heart, What
Keeps it beating? How old are YOU.
ten, twenty, thirty, fifty years? And
1t has been beating every second. min
ute and hour, and day through those
years? Who keeps it beating? Your
God! The moment he tells it to stop
1t Will stop. Should not the very beat
or our heart speak our devotion and
our love to God, knowing that He is
everything? Should not our power to
think do the same? Should not our
Fellowship do the same? Should not
our lives do the same? The very ioy
OF being alive brings to us that devo-
ton to Him who gave us breath and
MUS uo iiNiHS do loIlS as he sees II |
is right. We want that devotion.
We want that devotion that shows
itself in service, which does not think
Of anything but Him whom we serve:
a devotion which does not think of |
sacrifice or weakness. The trouble
with so much of our religion as well |
as our daily work is that we spoil it
bv getting tired No such thing as |
tired. 1t is all Imagination. That |!
ISN'T Christian Science OF course
here is good healthy physical weari-
ness. but when you say you are tired, |
when you want to give up the Sunday
school class. when you don't want to
70 to church Sunday night as well as
Sunday morning, when you think Won
haven't time or strength to do this or |
hat. that is not physical WEAKNESS. |
Well this is devotion to Jesus Christ.
here is recognition of the fact of |
~ weariness: the man never gets |
-ired More than that. there comes tn
rim snrh a Joy in service, and he