FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   >>   >|  
rom India, native of that land, said, "We don't need more Bibles in India." And then to this surprising statement, he added, "We have enough Bibles. If the Christians in India would _live the Bible_, India would be converted." And I thought, that will do for America, and England, and for all the world. _Jesus lived it_. As a man in His decisions and actions, His habits and daily round, He lived the truth. The story is told of a missionary in some part of Africa who had not had much success in his work. He was in the habit of explaining some portion of the New Testament to the people at His house. One day the portion contained the words, "give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn thou not away."[60] The people asked him if this meant what it said. He told them that it did. One of them said he would like to have the table, pointing to it; another asked for a chair, another for the bed, and so on. The missionary was rather startled at such literal taking of his teaching. He told them to come again on the morrow, and he would give his answer. When they had gone, he and his wife had rather a heart-searching time together. They felt they had not reached the hearts of the people yet. But to do as they asked meant real sacrifice of a very personal sort. At last with much prayer they decided to meet the people where they had opened the way. And so the next day they gave their answer, and soon the house was literally bare of all its furnishings. And that night they slept on the floor, yet with a sweet peace in their hearts in the midst of this strange experience. The next day the people came back, carrying the furniture. They had really been testing these new-comers. "Now," they said, "we believe you. You _live_ your Book. We want you to teach us." And with open hearts they listened anew to the Gospel story, and many of them accepted Christ. The little incident reveals the unity of the race. Those Africans said what England and America and all the world is saying, "_Live it_." Is your religion _livable_? What the world needs to-day is _a Jesus lived_, not simply taught, nor preached about, but lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. How the fire, the holy fire, of that sort of thing would catch and spread! Oh, yes, it might mean sleeping on the bare floor! That's what living-it means, the actual life overriding any mere thing that stands in the way. Live It. I stood one day on the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78  
79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

people

 

hearts

 

portion

 

answer

 

America

 

England

 

Bibles

 
missionary
 

listened

 

Gospel


reveals
 
incident
 

accepted

 

Christ

 
strange
 

experience

 
carrying
 
furniture
 

comers

 

Africans


testing

 

sleeping

 
living
 

spread

 

actual

 

stands

 
overriding
 

simply

 

taught

 
livable

religion

 

preached

 

native

 

Spirit

 

pointing

 
thought
 
converted
 

literal

 

taking

 

startled


Testament

 

habits

 

actions

 

explaining

 

decisions

 

asketh

 
borrow
 

success

 

contained

 
teaching