The selected extract we received from an esteemed contributor included some serious comments that require more than our brief attention.
Our items usually refer to the interesting incidents, impressive helpful words and deeds, we notice. But here is an instance of a different class because our attention is directed to that which is “conspicuous by its absence”.
“It is, I think, so aptly expressed here as—’A Fire and a Cutting Edge’—the Fire of our Faith and the Cutting Edge of our Enthusiasm, which to our sorrow of heart are almost lost qualities, sadly missing from the midst of our ecclesias today.”
This is not the ill-judged opinion of a novice, but the thoughtful impression of one with the experience of a lifetime in the Truth, and it is not the only voice heard expressing concern about the absence of those outward indications of the inward state of mind and feeling that spring from deep convictions and enthusiastic zeal for the Truth.
Nor is it a matter of only limited and localized extent. The warnings and questionings we hear come from far and near—calling attention of the earnest-minded to the rising tide of indifference in spiritual responsiveness.
The extract that prompted the above comment carries the same idea:
“Whatever we have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. It is no shadowy compensation and reward; but a solid weight of Glory (2 Cor. 4. 17). No doubt indefinable in earthly terms; but none the less permanent and utterly dependable. Such a Faith was certainly no ‘opiate’ of the people; to those early Christians the certainty of being Sons of Eternity gave them a Fire and a Cutting Edge which has rarely been equalled since.”
Here, for us, is an issue and a challenge —For if our profession of the recovery and adherence to the original Christianity is unaccompanied by evidence of deep stirring of heart and feeling there would be cause to doubt the sincerity of our claims and the depth of our convictions.
The effect that follows the tangible expression of whole-hearted sincerity is most evident in the impressions we leave, either consciously or unconsciously, with other people; their favourable response being quickly given when warmth of feeling and the enthusiasm of deep conviction is shown.
No great achievement was ever attained without it, or acceptance secured by the most dazzling of cold logical reasoning and deductions in its absence.
“A cool detachment is the great antithesis of the Gospel of Jesus Christ”—we cannot read the pages of the New Testament without realizing the passionate character of those Early Christians—This explains why, against terrible odds, original Christianity was able to endure and to win.”
A true believer in Christ does not look at the Gospel records and say “That is an interesting idea”—He looks at the life of Christ and is so deeply moved by it that he says “Come into my heart and abide there always”.
The Apostle’s words were not meant for the detached and the cold-hearted when he said, “I pray to the Father—that through faith, Christ may dwell in your hearts in love–With deep roots and firm foundations may you be strong to grasp—with all God’s people, what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ, and to know it, though it is beyond knowledge. So may you attain to fullness of being, the fullness of God Himself . .
The power to avert a danger, and provide a remedy is largely in the hands of our appointed speakers and teachers, especially teachers, who can kindle the Flame from their own burning hearts, and sharpen the cutting edge with the steel of their convictions.
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay