Devotional Column

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 445, 29 May 1937, Page 2

Devotional Column

PRAYER FOR THE WEEK I Lord' Giod, in whom we live and move and have tftir being, open our eyes that we may behold thy father., ly presence ever about us. Draw our hearts to thee- with the power ot thy love. Teach us to be -anxious for nothing; and when we have done what thou hast given us to do, help us, O God our Saviour, to leave the issue to -thy wisdom. Take from us all doubt and mistrust!.. Lift our thoughts up to thee in heaven; and

make us to know that all things are posible to us, through try Son, our Redeemer. Amen. The Divinity of Christy Was Jesus of Nazareth divine? The answer to this question is a spiritual one raither than an intellectual one; conviction only comes throug experience. Let me illustrate; suppose someone gives me a glass of milk and asks me if it is sweetened with sugar. The only practical means 1 have of answering that question is to taste it. So is it with the question of the divinity of Christ; we must taste and see. There are any number of intellectual arguments which can start us on the road, but the final stage is only reached through experience*. “Come and see,” was the answer of Jesus to St. Andrew and his companion when they were stirred by a desire to know Him, and “come and ( see” is the answer of Jesus to-day. | The intellect has its part to play in j answering such questions, but it must | not be exaggerated. i We may, for instance, start by examining the character of Jesus and j realising how He has all the virtues lof a perfect human character, and | none of the failings. Or we may take I the claims He made for Himself that I He was the light of it he 'world., the | Breath of Life., the Wlay the Truth )andl the Life and the Good Shepherd I who giveth His life for the sheep. IWe notice how naturally l these j claims seem -to come from Him, alI though they would express merely unbounded self-conceit in other people. Or we may start with the undoubted fact of His Resur i ecti-on, and try <to reconcile it it with any other explanation than that of His ditinity. All these and many othersare starting points; the conclusion is only reached through personal experience.

The intellect may see in Him the world’s greatest moral teacher, but» it is “the heart,” alone that can fall town, before Him with the words “my Lord and my God.” Forgiveness. Forgiveness is, like other inner gifts, dependent for its efficacy upon, the ddsposition'to receive it. It must be us d or its effiqacy is nullified. It expects much ’of the recipient. Tradition and usage have summed up all that is necessary in -the word penii fence, which is a disposition shaping itsslf into conduct, based on the i abandonment of sin. Godi’s forgiv- ' j higness can never be exhausted, but j by a light use of forgiveness power Ito appropriate it becomes dsipletod. ' Forgiven sin is forsaken since and the converse is equally true if, included in the forsaking is as complete an undoing of the wrong as the sinners’ power of choice can compass.