LIVING FOR CHRIST by W. S. Danley

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 28, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 41.

LIVING FOR CHRIST.

By W. S. Danley

"Whose we are, and whom we serve," is one of Paul's pregnant expressions. This apostle never seemed to lose sight of the fact that he belonged to Christ, and ought to serve him with all his powers, even eating and sleeping to his glory. It has not entered equally into the minds of all men that our bodies as well as our souls are the Lord's, and that all our energies and time should be devoted to his service. Very admirable appears the Christian character of Edward Payson, whose life every minister ought to read, who considered himself so much devoted to the Lord that he ceased to deliver any addresses except those in which it would be appropriate for him to honor his Master.

The first item in a consecrated life is holiness. No other sort of life is acceptable to Christ. He wants clean hands and pure hearts; not as Pilate, who washed his hands of the blood of Christ, but had a hand in the shedding of his blood; not a life like Judas, so fairly beautiful outside that the other apostles never guessed he was the betrayer. Veneering may be proper in the furniture business, but will not answer in morals and character. It is not enough to be free from the grosser sins that constitute a bad life in the eyes of the world, but a devoted Christian renounces the more refined sins, if you can so call them, of envy, ambition, pride, self-seeking, advantage-taking, some shades removed from open dishonesty. It is the hardest thing and the easiest to be a Christian. Set this statement in the white light of the sermon on the mount, in which the thought and motive are forever linked with the action, and say whether it is very easy or not to be a Christian according to Christ's idea. We make the terms of discipleship very easy, and herd people into the church. Christ held out no shallow inducement to secure precipitate adherence to himself. He said, "Count the cost; the cross lies on the way to the crown; my followers must put up with a stone for a pillow; follow me if you can live as I live."—Rev. W. S. Danley, in Christian at Work.