The Penn's Grove record., 1914-06-26
HINDRANCES
What Constitutes Them Is Made
Clear by a Study of the
Life of Jesus.

instead OF living in the sunshine; OF
preferring a miserable existence in
stead Of a broad life Of riches and
power.
The meaning Of the career of Jesus
Is this: His whole life is a revela-
ton OF how men treat God. Any one
who will follow in his steps from
Bethlehem to Calvary will come to
know how men treat God and what it
is that opposes and binders the com
ing OF God into the life of the world
Family pride and hinder
God. This is brought out in a very
striking scene that occurred in the
city of ~Capernaum. The crowd is
t~hronging about Jesus to hear his
words and to feel his healing touch.
God was verify walking among men.
Thereupon his mother and brothers
and friends pass the word around that
H Is beside himself" This is about
as cruel a thing as could happen! The
family pride was touched and the
mother and brothers sought to get
Jesus out of the crowd and take him
home because he was beside him
self"
At this point Jesus uttered one of
the greatest of his sayings. He
pointed to his disciples and said:
These are my mother and my breth-
rem! For whosoever shall do the will
OF my father who is in heaven, he is
my brother and sister and mother"
The home is often a hindrance to
God. The growing spirits of the chill
dren are frequently clipped or broken
by the narrow sel1shness of the fam
lily. The home is meant to be their
training school for God; yet mother
and brother frequently defeat the pur-
pose Of God in the career of the chill
dren. 1t is a wonderful truth when
Jesus clearly marks the limits of the
home by declaring that whosoever
does the will Of God, "he is my brother
and sister and mother"
Perverted vision through lying him
ders God. On one occasion Jesus had
performed an act of mercy. A wretched
creature who was blind and dumb had
been made to zee and to speak Ger.
tainly this is a good deedl One
would think that it would receive uni
versal approval. But no, certain men,
through envy, passed the lying word
around-O these whispering tattle-
tales.-that Jesus did all this through
allegiance with the prince of evil.
and they charged Jesus with having
evil motives.
The great soul of Jesus blazes forth
in hot indignation. He declares that
such perverted vision is objectionable.
1t is possible to forgive every sin of
man except that of calling good evil,
Of saying that acts of mercy spring
from the prince of evil. There is
hope for the harlot, there is hope for
the thief, there is hope for the out
cast, but the man who "blasphemes
against the Holy Spirit" by calling
good evil, by peddling stories that at
tribute evil motives to good deeds,
that, in other words, calls God devil,
is beyond the zone of hope. He can't
see God. He binders God, because his
heart is evil.
OF all sinners, the meanest and
most malicious is the one that scat
tiers lying words. I'd rather be a
drunkard or a harlot than have a
heart. looking through which l saw
good as evil. There would be more
hope for me. When the vision of the
heart is so perverted that evil motives
are ascribed to good deeds, hope is
gone; for no room for God is left
The question Of the objectionable
sin," over which theologians used to
knit their brows in debate, need be
no puzzle. Jesus meant that any one
who looked upon a pure, clean, unset
fish life-like his own-and called it
"unclean." was a hopeless pervert He
could not tell good when he saw 1t.
God was to him evil. His whole life,
therefore, was one perpetual perver-
sion of God.
This scene is Immediately followed
by another that shows how God is
hindered. The very men who have
been lying about Jesus came forward
with a show of piety and demanded of
him a "sign"-some mark of proof of
his authority. Jesus tells them plain
ly that no sign will be given except
the sign Of Jonah, namely, a demand
for repentance.
God hath come to this generation
with mercy and riches and healing!
What doth hinder him. The heavens
are ready to burst with blessin1si
What doth stay them? God in the
flesh is walking among men. Why do
they reject him? Jesus experience is
the answer. Family pride and narrow
ness are a bar. A lying heart, that
calls good evil and whispers 1t about
crucifies God. A shallow skepticism
that demands a "sign" of authority
from God before believing in goodness,
is an empty house that is a standing
invitation to all the evil spirits OF
life to enter and abide.