It is a fact which we do well to face, that every one is called to make a definite choice whether he will have Christ or the world. It is true that many have attempted to possess themselves of both, but it is always a miserable failure, for such people are never really happy.
Many there are who make a definite calculation as to whether they can part with the world, and they decide that they cannot. They would like to become children of God, they would like to be real Christians, they would like to have the assurance of salvation; but the cost to them seems too great. The world has its attractions, its pleasures and its excitements; they cannot bring themselves to give up its balls, its theaters, its concerts, and its round of amusements.
So thought a young girl with whom the Spirit of God was evidently striving. She had had the advantages of a Christian home and of earnest and whole-hearted Christian friends, but at school she had come in contact with worldly influences, and these had proved too alluring; she had learned to dance, and she loved it; she felt her whole nature going out toward the world and its pleasures. What was she to do?
“I cannot go into the world, and be a Christian too,” she said. “I must be one thing or the other.” It is a serious crisis in that young girl's life—may God help her to make the best and wisest choice!
“Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”
Joshua appeals to them upon the ground of all that they had proved God to be for them in the past. Read that chapter through, and see how full it is of God's goodness and love to the people. He “gave” them this, and He “gave” them that; He “delivered” them here, and He “delivered” them there. There was no question as to His love, He had proved it to them conclusively. The whole question lay now with them,
“Choose you... whom ye will serve.”
In writing this we have specially in view the young people who have had the advantage of Christian training, but have not yet made a definite choice for themselves—Choose you—yes, it must be a choice.
It must be a definite decision—no half-and-half measures will do. You know the gospel in your head, you could clearly present it to others, but you have not made the choice. Nay, is this true? You have already made the choice, but, alas! so far it has been the fatal choice. We want you now to alter your decision, and to choose Christ for time and eternity.
The young girl alluded to above, knew and understood the gospel; she knew that Christ had died for sinners, and that she could be saved the moment she put her faith in Him; but she felt that it must be a faith of the heart, and that if faith was that of the heart, it would be accompanied by a change of life, and would lead her to follow Christ consistently.
Let us imagine that two purses are lying on the table. The one contains one cent; the other five thousand dollars. A poor and needy man is told that he may have one or the other, but that he cannot have both-would it take him long to decide which of the two he would choose? Could we imagine anyone so foolish as to give up the purse containing five thousand dollars, because he could not bring himself to part with the one containing one cent?
This is but a poor and feeble illustration of the comparative values of the world and Christ. True, the world in the light of eternity, with all its pleasures, its gaities, its excitements, is worth absolutely nothing at all. But Christ? Ah, tongue fails to tell, pen is utterly unable to write, nor can thought conceive His unsearchable riches!
(To be continued)