AN UNFULFILLED DESIRE

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 8

AN UNFULFILLED DESIRE

The preacher of this sormoii is tlio iiev. J. E. Newiihaui, oi the Kew Baptist Church, Highbury grove, a former prosident of tho Baplist Union of Victoria. Mr. Ncwnbam preachos -.froiu Mark ^x., .17-22: "Good Master, whai shall I do to inherit eternal life? .... He went away aorrowful." The qaest tor the abiding has beea the qifest of the ages, he said. Miidst the hux of things is there anything permanent? In wnat does reality consist? Possibly the best method of expressing this quest is in the form of those questions which ever bother hurnanity. Is there anything beyond thiie presei^t life? Is there any meaning to stress and strain, the joy and sorrow which comes t# all humanity? This quest is found as far back as the days of Pindar in Greece, whilst in tiie pages of the Bible it goes far beyond into the dim shades oi the beginning of things. The Greek poet thrcw his qupstion to the winds, wnereas the Jewish seeker found an answer iu Jehovah. Of course there have been endless denials in regard to thc quest. Strident voices have heralded the news that death en'ds all, but, despite all such assertions, there is a something about life that capnot rest rln negations. Maukixd possesses a sense of the incompieteness of life, a strange fee'ling of delachment as though he were a citizen of another world, and a mystsrions yeaming for sometJimg beyond himself. Children at time3 amuse themselvos-by lisiening to shells and hearing wnat aprears to be* the sound of a murinu:ing* sea, as if the" shell once had an experience which it could not remove. In some such way mankind realises in lil'e's quieter reaehes that theie is a sense of a nearness of God'. "Trailing clouds of glory do ysro.come, From God, who ds our liome. " , However, there is no need for auyono to spend a lifetime of woudenaout and doubt, for there is an authoritative voice lliat spcaks qut. of a fullness of knowledge. When Jesus spoke of the things of the Kingdom of God, tho crdwd, quitvk to sensc a word of knowledge, "pressed upon Him to hear," and when, with His powers-of intuifcion, He probed the depths of their souls, they awakened to that which they already dimly knew, namely. a deep longing within for a fullness of life. When therefore He said, "I have corae that ye might have life and have it more abundantly, ' they knew with a glad nssuranco that here was thc answer lo their life-long quest. "What must I do?" Jesus answers in words irnplying the following challenge: — "You des-iro to possess eternal . life, you want the life that God has and civcs; how vreatlv do vou dosire

this life? What price are you prepared to pay in order to reaeh this^oal? Eemember that the gift oi this life is a costly gift, costly that is to God. The price of making it available to mankind cost the Son of God His life. It> it worth more to you than anything else in this world?" That is the question every seeker has to face. The challenge is the surrender of a dominating love for social position; to another the passion for pleasurq; to another self-esteem — but to each seeker there is a price which variee with the dominating desire of the seeker, and with the vaiue of that ono to the Kingdom of God. There is an attitude towards life which is ofttimes 1 deemed to be adequate for either this world or the -next, the attituda that "I pay 20/- in the pound, and therefore am able to look either God or man in the face." MeetJLng daily (expenses is an excollent thing, but it is not eternal life; paying bills is simply every man 'a duty in order that each person may gain a li-ve-lihood. Morals and money are the two features of human worship, and the latter probably occupies a more prominent position than the former. ■ If the words are f ramed in the, language of to-day, Jesus said, "Go aud sell up, distribute the proceeds amongst the needy, and come into partnership with Me. You need no capital, for 1 have abundance for both." How many people have thrown up hands in horror at sueh sacrilege? "Give away * to the poor!" How tnany * surf ace-think-dng -people have said with scorn, "If that. is the -price of- Christianity, then it is useless to me' ?• And .yet, the disciples, the fishermen, left all to follow Him; Matthew left the receipt of custom' to follow Him. Even in later days men have ^elt this challenge — so Tolstoi, so that great Soul Charles gtudd, so that out'standing afhlete Fenton Hall. Moreover it is well to notice the order of renunciation, "Go," "Sell," "Give." Three steps in preparation for the incoming of that .longed-for life, and three experiences that more than cdver the renunciation, words of appropriabio.n, "Come," "Eollow," and "Receive."