The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1956-09-21

Some are not even DR.. Foreman
turned toward him and are moving
farther away every day. But even
those whose faces are Godward,
are never as close to him as is
possible to be- God is everywhere,
in one sense. That is, one does not
have to travel to some distant
shrine, some Holy City. to find
God. And yet even among human
beings we often feel how far We
are from those sitting in the same
room with US. And though God is
all about US, we are blind to him
Spiritually we are feeding swine in
far country when we ought to be
at home with God and in God.
There are diseases in which the
patient shivers with cold even in
hot sunshine. So the diseased soul
shivers with cold even in the full
Hood Of Gods radiant love. A pa
,ient with mind diseased looks un-
seeingly into the eyes of loved
ones. How near-and yet how ter
ribly far away! In our coldness of
heart, our estrangement of mind.
We hear-or can we hear?-the
Voice say GOMEZ"
Who Says Some?
What voice is this? Two strange
words appear: The Spirit and the
Bride. Who are these? Spirit is
God the Bride is the Church The
Spirit is the New Testament word
for God-close- at-hand, Godin-the-
heart, God moving in heart and
mind OF dedicated men. The voice
of the Spirit is the still small
voice" the prophet heard. II is The
Spirit OF God and the Spirit OF
Jesus. Would it not be enough foI
the Spirit TO say Come No. be
cause God graciously chooses te
speak also with human. voices. The
Bride is the Church; and The
Church too says Come" In al
her services of worship and d
teaching. in all her proclaiming Of
the eternal Word, in all her serv.
ice to mankind, the Church says
Come. A church that does moi
have the atmosphere Of welcome i.
no true church. A church that puts
back bars that our Lord has taker
down, church that says Come"
to a select few and says nothing a,
all to the masses of men, this i.
not true Bride" of Christ The
doors of this church are as wide
open as the gates of heaven, say
some church bulletins. If that is
not true, whose fault is it?
Is Your Name Here?
Jesus once Wept over a beloved
city: How often would have gath.
cred you but you would not!
Christ can say, Il would; but you
would not But such is the
graciousness of God that no man
dare say. Il would; but God would
not The invitation of God has OF
it. SO to speak. the name Of every
man who warts to write his name
there "Whosoevcr will" includes
everybody who wants to be in
Guided. There is no sense in say.
ing. II never have wanted to corne
to God, therefore the invitation is
not to me-" 1t is to you-but only
if you will. Here in Revelation i,
is an invitation; in some other
parts Of the Word it is a command
(e.g. God commands all men ev-
erywhere to repent" (Acts 1900
The Choice Is Your Own
God can do all things But he has
not done all the things he could
have done. He could. no doubt.
have made men in such a way and
Of such nature that not one person
could ever possibly commit sin,
not one person could turn away a
hair s-breadth from God. But he
did not make such men. He could
have made men such that if they
ever straycd away from God all he
would have to say was simply
Come" and they would come back
every one But he did not make
men so. God would rather be loved
| by men who do not have 10 love
him than by creatures who would
love him automatically and could
| not help it. God gave man the
power to accept; but at the same
time he gave man the power to re-
| fuse. Let him comet" God does
much for you but he will not de-
eide for YOU God made the road
home; he holds the door wide
open; he sends the word. Comet"
but he leaves the coming to you,
to each man.
| (BaseA On outlines .cpyrtshted BY thu
! Division. Of Christian Education, Ma
| tisnal Council Of the Churches Of Christ
In the L. s. A. Released by Com munit,
| Press Serviee)