and remember that, very soon, those strings may be all jarring, and some of them may be broken. Hold everything earthly with a loose hand; but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip. Grasp Christ in the power of the spirit; grasp God, who is your everlasting portion, and your unfailing joy. As for other things, hold them as though you held them not, even as Paul says, “It remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;… and they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.” Of everything below, it is wise for us to say, This is not my abiding portion.” It is very necessary to say this, and to realize that it is true, for everything here is covered with bird-lime, and the birds of paradise get stuck to it unless they are very watchful. Mind what you are doing, you prosperous people, you who have nice homes, you who are investing your money in the funds; mind that you do not get bird-limed. There is nothing permanently for you here, after all. Your home is in heaven; your home is not here; and if you find your treasure here, your heart will be here also; but it must not be so. You must keep all earthly treasures out of your heart, and let Christ be your treasure, and let him have your heart.
The next observation I would make is this,—Bow before the divine will in everything. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Why should it be? O Lord, thou art Master, thou art King; then why should we wish to have our own way? It is right that the servant should take the master’s place? There are some of you who are in trouble, and probably your chief trouble arises from the fact that you will not absolutely submit to the Lord’s will. I pray that the Holy Spirit may enable you to do so, for trouble loses all its sting when the troubled one yields to God. If you had directed your own way, and this trouble had come upon you because of the choice that you had made, you might have cause to be distressed; but as the Lord has so directed and arranged your affairs, why should you be cast down? My dear friend, you know—or, at any rate, you ought to know—that you cannot be supreme; you must be content to be second. You must say to the Lord, “Thy will, not mine, be done.” You will have to say it sooner or later; and if you are a child of God, you ought to have said it long ago, so say it at once. I heard one who, I thought, was a Christian, say, “I cannot think that God was right in taking away my dear mother from me.” I replied, “My sister, you must not talk like that.” Perhaps someone else says, “I did feel that it was hard when my dear child was taken from me.” Yes, my dear friend, you may have felt that it was hard, but you ought to have felt that it was right. God must be free to do as he pleases, and he always does what is right; therefore, you must submit to his will, whatever he pleases to do.
My last observation is,—Pray about everything. Remember what Paul wrote to the Phillipians, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” Pray about everything; I make no exception to this. Pray about waking in the morning, and pray about falling asleep at night. Pray about any great event in your life, but pray equally about what you call the minor events. Pray as Jacob did when he crossed the brook Jabbok; but do not forget to pray when there is no angry Esau near, and no special danger to fear. The simplest thing, that is not prayed over, may have more evil in it than what appears to be the direst evil when once it has been brought to God in prayer. I pray that all of you, who love the Lord, may commit yourselves afresh to Christ this very hour. I wish to do myself, saying, “My Master, here am I; take me, and do as thou wilt with me. Use me for thy glory in any way that thou pleasest. Deprive me of every comfort, if so I shall the more be able to honour thee. Let my choicest treasures be surrendered if thy sovereign will shall so ordain.” Let every child of God make a complete surrender here and now, and ask for grace to stand to it. Your greatest sorrow will come when you begin to be untrue to your full surrender to the Lord; so may you never prove untrue to it!
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
