Seasonable Help for a Young Convert.
A YOUNG lady who had long been fascinated by the pleasures of this world was one day found listening to the Gospel of God’s grace. The message made its way to her heart and conscience, and she was truly converted; was turned to God in repentance, and, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, was filled with joy and peace in believing.
But after a time its reality was tested, which is ever the case with those professing conversion. She received an invitation to a “Fancy Dress Ball.” Her first thought was to refuse it; but having, in her unconverted days, been particularly fond of such pleasures, she constantly found her mind reverting to this invitation; and at last came the question, Would there be any harm in accepting it? She was filled with perplexity as to what her decision should be, and felt that definite direction was very necessary. The preacher through whom God’s blessing had reached her she decided to call upon. On telling him the purport of her errand, to her surprise she was told that he could not undertake to direct her path; that the Lord alone had the right to do this: but at the same time he would be most happy to be of service to her. So she told him the whole matter. After patiently listening to what she had to say, he remarked, “We will get a sheet of writing-paper!” This he did, and down the center of it he drew a perpendicular line. On the left of this line he wrote as a heading, THE WORLD! and underneath, its attractions―its sorrows―its miseries―and ending with DEATH.
On the other side he wrote another heading, “CHRIST!” and underneath―His love―His worth―His life―His death―His glory―with HEAVEN at the end.
Turning to his enquirer, who was following his movements with the deepest interest, he asked.
“Which side, do you think, can we put the Fancy Dress Ball?” By the pointed question her difficulty was instantly solved.
She got a deeper sense of her Saviour’s love in giving Himself for her; and the worldly invitation was definitely declined. She saw, moreover, that Christ, and the world that cast Him out, could never happily be yoked together. Since it would grieve and dishonor the Lord, it must to her be an absolute impossibility.
Let my reader mark it well: behind the pleasures of this world, which the Spirit of God terms the “pleasures of sin for a season,” there lies the power of Satan. The enemy would seek to control the affections through the presentation of that which appeals most strongly. For the Christian to yield to the overtures of the world is but to prove how effectually the soul is thus robbed of the joy and peace which is love’s rich portion for every believer.
“The world has nothing new to give;
It has no true, no pure delights.”
Is it not happier to be found with those “tasting of the joys that never fade,” giving “thanks to the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:12, 1312Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: (Colossians 1:12‑13)).
“Naught, naught I count as pleasure,
Compared, O Christ, with Thee!
Thy sorrow, without measure,
Earned peace and joy for me.
I love to own, Lord Jesus,
Thy claims o’er me Divine,
Bought with Thy blood most precious,
Whose can I be but Thine!”
F. G.