The Test of Religion by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 21, 1915

The Test of Religion

By F. M. W.

The real test of a man's religion is not found in his profession, in his mental assent to some system of doctrine; it is not found necessarily in his attendance upon the service of the church, in his observance of ordinances and ceremonies. The real test is found in his daily life. A man's wife, his children, his neighbors, are much better able, ordinarily, to tell whether or not he is a Christian, than the president of the conference, or the elder of the church. These latter see him only on special occasions—at the Sabbath service, at the conference meeting, where he expects to act religiously; but those who have daily business dealings with him, or are shut up with him year after year within the four walls of his home, are able to form a much truer estimate of the genuineness of his faith and of his practical Christian experience.

Some years ago we were invited by a sister whose husband was not a believer, to visit her home. She longed for her husband's conversion, and wondered why he did not yield to the influence of the gospel. The hour spent with the family at dinner, while we listened to the criticisms of our sister against the elder of the church, the president of the conference, and witnessed her impatient bearing toward her children, readily answered the question, in our mind, as to why her husband had not yielded himself to God.

A religion that is put on for public occasions, that expresses itself in the observance of forms and ceremonies and ordinances, but fails under the wear and tear of daily experience, is not religion at all. Let us not permit the enemy of our souls to lead us into the belief that we are accepted of God because we have been baptized, joined the church, and are observing the seventh day as the Sabbath, when our hearts are filled with bitterness, with envy, with evil surmisings, and when we give unbridled rein to our evil natures.

Fellowship with God is more than a profession. It means the enthronement of Christ within the heart's citadel; it means the casting down of imaginations and the bringing of the thoughts into captivity to the Master; the purifying of the heart from the dross of envy, jealousy, and hatred; it means the same sacred regard for principle and right in the silent recesses of the heart as it does in the outward actions. This is an experience which must be wrought into the life of each one. How greatly we need to cultivate true, genuine heart religion.

When we can come so near to God that we will serve him because we love him, that we will give up our way and choose his way because we fear that to do otherwise would bring grief to the heart of our dearest Friend; when those requirements which before have appealed to us as duties become privileges, even though they may entail pain and suffering, because we do them for the One we love, this is fellowship; this is the sweet communion to which Christ invites us. Entering into it we shall find joy and peace and love, which are the true fruits of the indwelling Spirit.

F. M. W.