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IT is easy to be a critic of present day Christianity; it is
difficult to be an earnest Christian. A religion which is a mere
negation is ineffective and unsatisfying.
Christianity is the most positive of all religions. There were
many positive interventions of God in human history in pre-Christian
days. The incarnation, vicarious obedience and death of the Son of God
were most outstanding interventions.
The Lord Jesus enunciated the great positive principles of
Christianity. His followers were men of definite beliefs, whose trust
was not in negations but in the living Redeemer. Those early
Christians, like all true believers, experienced the power of the Holy
Spirit in their lives. Christ was to them a present reality and the
Holy Spirit was, likewise, a living Person. The definiteness of their
doctrinal beliefs which centred in the glorious Person and work of the
Lord Jesus was their greatest defence against the tenets of heathenism;
their fixed faith in the Son of God was a shield against the seductions
of heathen philosophers; the reality of the spiritual change which they
had undergone gave them a distinct assurance that the Christian faith
was Divinely true, for each could say: "One thing I know that whereas I
was blind, now I see"; the faith which led them to plead the merits of
the glorious Redeemer, and thus obtain blessings for themselves and for
others, they regarded as indispensable; their personal experience of
the veracity of God's Word was a potent antidote against infidelity;
and their sacrificial lives were their most powerful apologetic.
A revival of the spirituality and orthodoxy of Apostolic
Christianity is needed greatly now. In family, church and state there
is no adequate substitute for those who have had a personal experience
of the saving power and love of the Lord Jesus. That evaluation of the
benefits of Christianity which leads to a profitable spiritual
employment of the Lord's Day and the setting apart of a portion of
every day for family worship is most desirable. Trenchant criticism of
the shifting sands of modernism has value, but can never take the place
of positive personal religion.
Hence this need for definite spiritual experiences which are given
to those who believe, obey, pray and reverently read the Holy
Scriptures.
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Christian Life