The Durant news. (Durant, Miss.) 1882-1985, 1952-03-06
Losses Written Off

Losses WTltten VII
DAUL gave several .humbnail au
photographers, some Of which
are included in the Scripture read
ings for this week. So We know
pretty well what he had to give up
What would strike most Of us to-
day is his loss Of comfort and secu
rity. Modern Americans want above
all to be comfortable and secure.
Probably Paul missed comfort
and security as much as any
man, for he was born to both.
But as an Ambassador Of
Christ" he had had to give all
this up.
He had long since exhausted what.
ever money he may have had; he
had to work at hard manual labor
to support himself; he was a con-
slant traveller, which in those days
did not mean Cadillac cars, Pull
mans or even foam-rubber bus
seats; it meant dirt and fleas and
bad food and seasickness and
wrecks 1--WE know of four he had ;
it meant sometimes being half
starved. sometimes robbed and al
ways in danger Of armed robbery
His Worst Losses?
DUT there was worse. A wise man
- does not count hardships his
heaviest losses. To lose freedom is
more serious. And Paul (when he
wrote to the Philippians) had been
under arrest for more than four
years. He had been jailed at Jeru-
salem first, then for two years in
Caesarea, then a journey in chains
to Rome. and then in Rome for we
don't know just how long.
Paul was just the tempera-
ment that feels Imprisonment
most kccnly. Active, vigorous,
always on the 90, the four walls
Of . cell or even the four walls
Of . house must have CALLED him
terribly. But perhaps worst Of
an was loss Of standing In his
home community.
He was born both Jew and
Roman Gas a Jew today may be .
good American or good French.
man too); but the Jews looked on
him as a traitor to his race. man
not at to live; while the Romans
regarded him as a crack-pot at best.
q subversive agitator at worst.
Whatever advantages Paul had
had at birth or by education, he had
definitely lost long before the end.
Credit Balance
YET Paul, in writing up the bal
l ance sheet Of his life, calls
everything he had lost SO much
trash. in comparison with what he
had gained. To his mind 1t was
like losing a truck-load Of ashes
and finding one diamond.
We ourselves, not being, alas!
saints, II we had fixed up his
balance sheet, would have put
some items on the credit side
that he does not mention. After
all. he vas then and still Is
Christendom's first citizen.
For many OF US, and all OF us call
him Saint, which means he belongs
to Gods aristocracy You can af-
ford to lose a good deal for that;
He was also, and still is, close to the
top, If not at the top, Of the list OF
the most influential men in the
worlds history, aside from Christ
himself. He is this, because alnos!
half the books in the New Tesla
ment were written by him. Yet he
does not say, speaking of his life's
hardships, 81 count these things as
nothing in comparison with my posi-
ton as leader the fact OF my
sainthood my contribution to
the Bible"
We know what his life-ambitions
were: ito testify the good news OF
the grace Of God; Ito gain Christ
to know hirn-to share the power
OF his resurrection, the fellowship
OF his sufferings"; and "by all
means to win some" These things
ne did; these things no hardships
and no enemies could keep him
from doing. With these things on
LIES credit side, the debts were