In
our Library - where Books are free
|
Chapter 7 -
The Measured Mile -
From There Go the Ships
by George Shirley
Page 105 - 106
Go into the Hall of Judgment, and sit there among
them? Yes, and by their fire. He might have pleaded he wanted to
follow his Master, but it was afar off. He was wrong, and suffered
miserably. Go nowhere where we cannot pray, "Lord, lead us
not into temptation."
Jesus in the wilderness was lonely, yet He was tempted. Some of
the early fathers of the Church withdrew from the world, and lived
in deserts and caves to lead holy
|
|
|
|
|
lives, yet they were tempted. How
foolish to think of escaping trials! Better to manfully conquer
them. Christ's second temptation rose higher,--the first in the
wilderness, the second on a pinnacle of the temple, the third
higher still, "on a mountain." And the temptations seemed
so plausible, "Make these stones bread." Well, then,
you are hungry, and need no bread; surely then to descend from
the pinnacle you need no stairs. "Throw yourself down."
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Satan would
have turned his trust into presumption. He could quote Scripture
but leave out a part: "To keep thee in all thy ways."
The third temptation rose from pride to ambition. "He showed
Him all the kingdoms of the earth in a moment of time." "
All this will I give Thee if Thou wilt fall down and worship me."
He showed Him all the glory of them, but not the sorrow and shame
of them.
The answer of Jesus was, "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is
written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and only Him shalt
thou serve." The devil left Him, and
angels came and ministered unto Him. So if we resist and overcome
we shall find joy and peace which will be like angels' visits.
There is a man walking erect carrying a beam of timber. When nearer
I found it was a cross. He carried it as if it was no weight,
with a firm step and heavenly countenance, and singing a song
of the better land. Every time I met him he wore the same happy,
cheerful-looking countenance; but I lost sight of him for a long
time, and then what a change. He looked so melancholy, with a
careworn, wrinkled face, stooping under the weight of the cross.
Oh, what a burden, and his song so melancholy! I asked him the
reason. He stopped, put down the cross, pulled out a key, and
unlocked a cupboard in the cross, and it was so full of gold as
not to leave room for another coin. " What is this?"
said I. " Well, I thought it was right to save to provide
for my children, but it has made the cross so heavy." "And
what else?" He unlocked another, and it was full of tickets
for the theatre and sacred concerts. "What is this?"
"The cares and anxieties of business were so harassing and
worrying that my friends thought I wanted recreation-my mind released
from the cares." He then unlocked another, and it contained
club tickets for Saturday evenings, "when a few meet together,
our minds free from the worries of business." Whether there
was anything else that added to the weight of the cross I do not
know, but hearing the church bells strike out, he sorrowfully
lifted up the cross on his shoulder, and said, " I shall
be late." He went on singing his
|
© Peter Smith 2009
|
