WITHERED CHRISTIANS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 29, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 13.

WITHERED CHRISTIANS.

THERE are a great many withered Christians, who, in their early religious experience, put forth green branches and fragrant blossoms and promised much to the church. But since the novelty has died away and the first gush of feeling has subsided, they have gradually withered; their zeal has drooped, their love grown faint, and their freshness of joy disappeared.

You find these withered branches in every church. They have either too much self-respect or not enough courage to resign or withdraw, consequently they must resort to some subterfuge to cover up the decline in piety, and to conceal the pallid countenance and sickly form of their religion. Hence, they become wonderfully precise and dignified, great admirers of a fashionable religion, rigid formalists or semi-ritualists. Prayer-meetings become commonplace, if not vulgar. Missionary work they conclude is a waste of time; the ignorant masses are not worth saving, or beyond the hope of recovery. Why this sudden change?—They have "withered away." The dry leaves of a dead formality have taken the place of the fragrant blossoms of early piety, and a heartless philosophy has been substituted for living faith in a personal Saviour. They have "withered away." The reason is because the root element is wanting. This is the great defect in American piety. We are wonderful admirers of blossoms, abundant in foliage, and very calculating as to fruit. We promise, profess, and count up results, but have not much silent hidden force. The outside and visible occupy our thoughts, attention, and hearts. The invisible and hidden sources of life and power, the root element, we fail to recognize.

The popular idea of religion is show and noise, when, in fact, the sources of religious life and power are hidden and silent. The building of character is not the result of excitement and amid the din and clatter of worldly activity, but by silent convictions, secret communion, and the invisible touch of the divine hand. Our greatest victories are not external; no pen records them, no admirers applaud them, no banners proclaim them. Victory over selfishness, doubt, resentment, carnality, and worldliness—this is real victory.

Our noblest deeds are not winged and trumpeted. Our talking is not half so grand and enduring as our doing. Our best deeds are not the loudest-voiced; our noblest charities are not advertised; our piety don’t need labeling, and our Christian acts would die if traveled around in the jolting vehicle of publicity. Therefore, you see that the source of life, the building of character, the greatest victories, and the noblest deeds of the Christian, are silent and hidden. The root principle supplies all the life, and gives power and efficacy to all the actions. There would be no life, no foliage, and no fruit if there were no root.

The withering, then, is the natural and legitimate result of neglecting secret prayer, private meditation, reading God’s Word, and personal communion with God. The outer acts will be easy and natural if the inner supply is kept up. But when the fountain ceases, the streams fail. The Christian, then, is driven by the lash of conscience, and goaded by duty.

When a professor has no testimony for Christ, no joy in worship, no zeal for souls, no song of praise, no zest in labor, no buds of hope, and no triumph in trials, you may know he has neglected to draw upon God by faith, that the root is defective.

Our greatest neglect is secret prayer and personal communion with God. This is why we have so many dwarfed and withered professing Christians. Learn, therefore, O Christian, when thy heart is cold, thy faith weak, thy hope dull, thy zeal faint, thy works bondage, thy trials intolerable, thy duties taskmasters, and thy lot in life a divine mistake and impertinence, that the cause is in thyself. Thou hast neglected the Living Fountain. Thou hast no root. Thy life is not "hid with Christ in God."

—Christian Voices.