The Recompense That Satisfies by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 25, 1910

The Recompense That Satisfies

By C. M. S.

THE time is drawing near when the kingdom of Christ, the Prince of Peace, will bear sway over all this world, which is now dominated by the kingdoms of men, ruled through force and fomenting strife. But they who are fed by his hand “shall not be moved;” they “shall abide,” and abide in peace. Strife is running riot in the world to-day; but he who is truly fed of God will have peace in the very midst of this world’s commotion. He will not be moved, he will not be anxious, he will not be fearful of the outcome; because “this Man shall be our peace.”

The inn at Bethlehem, where the child Jesus was born, had no place for him in whose hands lay all the blessings of heaven for a lost world. The house was filled with the every-day traveler and trafficker. So with the hearts of the great mass of humanity to-day. Men are struggling, striving, surging, self-seeking, competing, crowding the heart walls for room, while the Saviour of the world stands without, knocking unheard, pleading unanswered, and still loving, through it all, the souls that weave themselves as woof into the warp of this world. And when one does hear, and turn from the turmoil, and the strife, and the grasping, and the soul-starving, to the water of life and the house of bread, heaven rejoices; and the long waiting, and the scorn, and the rebuffs, and the mocking of the rabble that hounded him to the cross then, and follows his disciples now, are all forgotten in the joy that fills the heart of Christ. He is seeing the fruit of soul-travail, and the seeing brings the satisfying which recompenses all.

O soul outside of Christ! why dwell longer in sin? Why wander longer in the wilderness of strife and doubting? Why walk longer in the way that has no other end, no other goal, than death? Why journey on toward the desert of death, when you might return to the garden of God, with its flowing “river of life,” its fruit-filled “tree of life,” its “bread of life”? Why serve longer the prince of this world on his battle-fields of selfishness, strife, greed, and all manner of evil, when the Prince of Peace has unfurled his banner, in whose service all is love, and joy, and peace, and all manner of good? The time for choosing is now, to-day. The hosts of evil are swelling to untold proportions, and soon the harvest they have sown they will reap.

But out of this sin-sown soil God is bringing forth a remnant for his glory, who will walk over the ashes of the hosts of Satan when the dross of sin has been burned out of this earth. To that remnant are all the promises of God. They shall live and reign with him forever, even forever and ever. Souls are deciding every hour for death or for life. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” The unbidden Guest of Bethlehem holds out to you the bread of life, and bids you drink of the water of life, and offers to you the joys and blessings of eternal life, where the canker of sin can never come. It is the richest offer that has ever been made to man. How can we refuse to accept it?

C. M. S.