COMMITMENT

201. I count that hour lost in which I have done no good by my pen or tongue or deed.

202. Our enemies are on every side, so must our armour be.

203. True conversion gives a man security, but it does not allow him to leave off being watchful.

204. Nothing is right for a Christian if it is not God's will for him.

205. Once the will of God to me was a sigh; now it is a song.--Frances Ridley Havergal

206. God will always reveal His will to one who is willing to do it.

207. Most people don't want to know the will of God in order to do it; they want to know it in order to consider it.

208. If the World goes against truth, then I go against the World.

209. Egypt must be out of Moses as well as Moses out of Egypt before God can use him.

210. Terms with God must always be His terms, not yours.

211. If you don't surrender to Christ you surrender to chaos.

212. Let God have your life; He can do more with it than you can.

213. Men must choose to be governed by God or they condemn themselves to be ruled by tyrants.

214. May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Live in me from day to day,
By His Love & power controlling
All I do & say.
--Katie Barclay Wilkinson

215. Sacrifice is the ecstasy of giving the best we have to the One we love the most.

216. The sign of our professed love for the Gospel is the measure of sacrifice we are prepared to make in order to help its progress.

217. Nothing less than a living sacrifice is demanded. Not a loan, but a gift; not a compromise, but a sacrifice; not our poorest, but our best; not a dead but a living offering. Each drop of our blood, each ounce of our energy, each throb of our heart, we must offer to God.

218. If Jesus Christ be God & died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.--C.T.Stud

219. Life offers only two alternatives: Crucifixion with Christ or self-destruction without Him.

220. 'Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To spend much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.

`What am I bidden for this?' he cried.
`Who'll start the bidding for me?
A dollar--one dollar: then two--only two:
Two dollars are bidden; say three.

`Three dollars once: three dollars twice:
Going for three!' But lo!
From the back of the crowd a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow.

Then, wiping the dust from the old violin
And tight'ning the loosened strings,
He played a melody passing sweet,
The kind that haunts and clings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was soft and low,
Said, `Now what is bid for the old violin?'
And he held it up with the bow.

`A thousand dollars: who'll make it two?
Two--two thousand: say three.
Three thousand once, three thousand twice,
Three thousand--gone!' said he.

The people cheered, but some exclaimed,
`We do not quite understand
What changed its worth:' and the answer came,
`Twas the touch of the Master's hand.

And many a man with soul out of tune,
And battered and scarred by sin,
Is auctioned cheap by the thoughtless crowd,
Just like the old violin.

But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul, and the change that is wrought
By the touch of the Master's hand.

O Master! I am the tuneless one:
Lay, lay Thy hand on me,
Transform me now, put a song in my heart
Of melody, Lord, to Thee.
(Rom.6:16; 12:1,2; 2Cor.3:18)
--Myra Brooks Welch

221. WHEN WE picture God's call nearly all of us think of something dramatic, revolutionary, and startling. The scene on the road to Damascus at once comes to mind. We see the great light in the sky; we hear the voice from heaven; we picture the revolutionizing effects of it all upon the Apostle to the Gentiles. But we forget the great number of men to whom God's call came when they stood upon the holy ground of their everyday life and service. God's call came to Samuel as he ministered in the daily round of the temple; it came to David in the sheepfold; it came to some of the disciples as they were mending and casting their nets. In all these cases the call came to them as they stood upon the holy ground of their daily duties.
As of old, He calls His Gideon from the threshing floor, and His Amos from the sycamore fruit; His Moses from the flocks; His Matthew from the receipt of custom; His John from the priestly family; His Peter from the fishing net, and His Paul from the rabbi's school; so now He calls us from the farm and from the merchandise, from the shop and from the office, from the profession and from the trade, from the pulpit and from the servants's hall. He calls us in boyhood; He calls us in manhood; He calls us in old age. ALL have a mission to fulfill and all alike shall, if they do Christ's work, receive His reward.

"Among the things that this day brings
Will come to you a call,
The which, unless you're listening,
You may not hear at all;
Lest it be very soft and low,
What'er you do, where'er you go,
Be listening

"When God shall come and say to you,
`Here is the thing that you must do,'
Be listening."

222. A little star shone singly in the night,
And thought "How very feeble is my light!
There's not a traveler who will see his way,
Who will be guided by my tiny ray.
But I will not go out--the more will I
Attempt to shine in this vast, darkened sky."

Down in the world there was a weary soul
Striving alone to see the clouded goal.
Full of despair, she wrestled all the night,
But saw no shining of a guiding light.
She said, "There is no moon, I am so sad,"
And lost the very little hope she had.

But through her narrow window did she see
A point of brightness gleaming fervently.
It was the single star. She cried aloud,
And hoped anew for passing of the cloud.
When morning came, with all its golden light,
She said, "I found the Saviour in the night.

"I found Him through a star -- it must have been
The Star of Bethlehem that I have seen,
For to the Lord it led -- and so I came
And saw the hills of Heaven all aflame,
All shining with the glory of that star,
Whose small but steady light had called afar."

O little star! be not afraid thy light
Will be too feeble to be seen at night.
However small, if steady, it will be
Lighting the roadway to Eternity.
They know in Heaven, where the angels are,
A soul was lighted by a little star.
--Vivien Jameson

223. Once an Indian lived alone, hunting and trapping in the Selkirk Mountains. His family had all been killed by a band of white hunters and he grew up a wild man. At length another trapper, a white man, came to the mountains to live. He was kind and patient, and gradually the wild boy came to trust him and to love him. Slowly he entered into the love of Jesus Christ, as the white man taught him. After many months of thought, one moonlit night on top of a noble peak, the young Indian dressed himself in all his heathen finery, took his friend's hand, knelt and prayed silently. Then he rose and made his confession of his new purpose, suiting the action to the word:

"Indian lay down blanket,
Indian lay down pipe.
Indian lay down tomahawk.
Indian lay down Indian."

Well may all of us learn a lesson from that child of the forest. What Christ requires of us is not some modifications, more or less complete, of our old life of sin and selfishness and doubt, but that we walk with Him in entire newness of life. "Indian must lay down Indian!"

224. Set apart for Jesus! Is not this enough,
Though the desert prospect's often wild and rough?
Set apart for His delight,
Chosen for His holy pleasure,
Sealed to be His special treasure!
Could we choose a nobler joy,
And would we if we might?

Set apart to love Him, and His love to know!
Not to waste affection on appearing show.
Called to give Him life and heart,
Called to pour the hidden treasure
That none other claims to measure,
Into His beloved hand!
Thrice blessed set apart.

Set apart for ever, for Himself alone!
None to see our calling gloriously shown!
Owning, with no secret dread, this our holy separation;
Now the crown of consecration
Of the Lord our God shall rest
Upon our willing head.
(John 17:16,17; Rom.12;1,2)

225. How far in service must I go,
What sacrifices bring
To God, Whose loving hands bestow
Each good and perfect thing?
How much of time and thought should I
Devote to him Who died?
What is my debt to him, and why,
And how, may I decide?

A measured service bound would be,
A service mean and small:
He did not ask `How much?' from me:
He gave Himself, His all.
He did not ask how far to go.
How far was not to say
What bound? How far? I only know
That He went all the way.

226. THE KEEPER of a lighthouse at Calais was boasting of the brightness of his lantern, which could be seen ten leagues at sea. A visitor said to him, "What if one of the lights should chance to go out?" "Never! Impossible!" he cried, horrified at the thought. "Sir," said he, pointing to the ocean, "yonder, where nothing can be seen, there are ships going out to all parts of the world. If tonight one of my burners went out, within six months would come a letter, perhaps from India, perhaps from America, perhaps from some place I never heard of, saying, on such a night, at such an hour, the light of Calais burned dim, the watchman neglected his post and vessels were in danger! Ah, sir, sometimes in the dark nights, in stormy weather, I look out to sea and feel as if the eyes of the whole world were looking at my light. Go out? Burn dim? Never!"

227. You are God's opportunity in your day. He has waited for ages for a person just like you. If you refuse Him, then God loses His opportunity which He sought through you, and He will never have another, for there will never be another person on the earth just like you.

Bring to God your gift, my brother,
He'll not need to call another,
You will do;
He will add His blessing to it,
And the two of you will do it,
God and you.
--R. E. Neighbour

228. He held the lamp of truth that day
So low that none need miss the way,
And yet so high, to bring in sight
That picture fair, the world's great Light,
That, gazing up, the lamp between,
The hand that held it scarce was seen.

He held the pitcher, stooping low,
To lips of little ones below,
Then raised it to the weary saint
And bade him drink when sick and faint.
They drank:--the pitcher thus between,
The hand that held it scarce was seen.

He blew the trumpet soft and clear
That trembling sinners need not fear,
And then with louder note and bold
To raze the walls of Satan's hold.
The trumpet coming thus between,
The hand that held it scarce was seen.

And when the Captain says, `Well done!
Thou good and faithful servant, come,
Lay down the pitcher and the lamp,
Lay down the trumpet--leave the camp,'
The weary hands will then be seen
Clasped in His pierced ones, naught between.
(2Cor.4:5-8; 2Tim.4:6-8)

229. IN THE cemetery of an English town there is a tombstone which attracts the attention of many visitors. It marks the grave where the celebrated Swedish singer, Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish Nightingale, was buried, and upon the stone is the text, "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
Jenny Lind was born in 1820. When only seventeen she came from her native land, and her lovely voice took the concert-loving people by storm. The good Queen Victoria often was found in her audience and signally honored "the slim girl with a marvelous voice," as she was called , by throwing to her a bouquet of flowers. From the crowned heads of Europe Jenny Lind received honor, and gifts were showered upon her from all sides. Wealth poured in, but all her success did not make her proud or exacting, as is so often the case, and she humbly wrote to a friend in later years, "My unceasing prayer is that what I gave to my fellows may continue to live on through eternity and that the Giver of the gift and not the creature to whom He lent it may be acknowledged."
A certain writer has remarked, "Nothing is more astonishing about the career of Jenny Lind than its comparative shortness. She sang in the English opera for only two years and retired practically in five years after her first appearance in London, though she appeared occasionally during the next few years, but chiefly for charities."
To many it would seem strange circumstances which led a young girl to abandon such a promising career and retire to the quietness of an English country home. On one occasion she sat on the seashore, reading a Bible, when one who greatly admired her beautiful voice saw her and asked, "How is it, madam, that you abandoned the stage at the very height of your success?" Jenny Lind gave the following reason: "When every day it made me think less of this"--laying her hand upon the open Bible, "what else could I do?" What a beautiful answer and how convincing! It was the knowledge that this precious Book had brought her--the knowledge of a Saviour's love which led her to abandon what the world counts of such value--riches, honor and popularity.

230. I love, my God, but with no love of mine,
For I have none to give;
I love Thee, Lord, but all the love is Thine,
For by Thy life I live.
I am as nothing, and rejoice to be
Emptied and lost and swallowed up in Thee.

Thou, Lord, alone art all Thy children need,
And there is none beside;
From Thee the streams of blessedness
proceed;
In Thee the blest abide,
Fountain of life, and all-abounding grace,
Our source, our center, and our dwelling
place.
--Madame Jeanne Marie Guyon

231. The legend of the raindrop
Has a lesson for us all,
As it trembled in the heavens...
Questioning whether it should fall

For the glistening raindrop argued
To the genie of the sky,
"I am beautiful and lovely
As I sparkle here on high,

And hanging here I will become
Part of the rainbow's hue
And I'll shimmer like a diamond
For all the world to view."...

But the genie told the raindrop,
"Do not hesitate to go,
For you will be more beautiful
If you fall to earth below,

For you will sink into the soil
And be lost a while from sight,
But when you reappear on earth,
You'll be looked on with delight;

For you will be the raindrop
That quenched the thirsty ground
And helped the lovely flowers
To blossom all around,

And in your resurrection
You'll appear in queenly clothes
With the beauty of the lily
And the fragrance of the rose;

Then, when you wilt and wither,
You'll become part of the earth
And make the soil more fertile
And give new flowers birth."...

For there is nothing ever lost
Or eternally neglected
For everything God ever made
Is always resurrected;

So trust God's all-wise wisdom
And doubt the Father never,
For in His heavenly kingdom
There is nothing lost forever.
--Helen Steiner Rice

232. I worship thee, sweet will of God!
And all thy ways adore;
And every day I live, I long
To love thee more and more.

When obstacles and trials seem
Like prison-walls to be,
I do the little I can do,
And leave the rest to thee.

He always wins who sides with God
To him no chance is lost:
God's will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.

Ill that God blesses is our good,
And unblest good is ill;
And all is right that seems most wrong,
If it be His dear will!
--Frederick William Faber

233. Once it was the BLESSING, now it is the LORD;
Once it was the FEELING, now it is His WORD;
Once His GIFT I wanted, now, the GIVER own;
Once I sought for HEALING, now HIMSELF alone.

All in all forever, JESUS will I sing;
Ev'ry thing in JESUS, and JESUS ev'ry thing.

Once 'twas painful TRYING, now 'tis perfect TRUST;
Once a HALF salvation, now the UTTERMOST;
Once 'twas ceaseless HOLDING, now HE holds me fast;
Once 'twas constant DRIFTING, now my ANCHOR'S CAST.

Once 'twas busy PLANNING, now 'tis trustful PRAYER;
Once 'twas anxious CARING, now HE has the care;
Once 'twas what I wanted, now what JESUS says;
Once 'twas constant ASKING, now 'tis ceaseless PRAISE.

Once it was MY working, HIS it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use HIM, now HE uses ME;
Once the POW'R I wanted, now the MIGHTY ONE;
Once for SELF I labored, now for HIM alone.

Once I HOPED in Jesus, now I KNOW He's mine;
Once my lamps were DYING, now they brightly SHINE;
Once for DEATH I waited, now His COMING hail;
And my hopes are anchored safe within the veil.

234. Five little pebbles lay in a brook,
Five little pebbles hid in a nook.
`What are we good for?' one said to another.
`Little or nothing, I'm thinking, my brother.'
Wearing away day after day--
It seemed that for ever those pebbles must stay.

If they were flowers ever so gay,
Doubtless someone would take them away;
Or if they were big stones that builders could use,
Perhaps then some builder those big stones
would choose.
Wait, little pebbles, rounded and clean,
Long in your loneliness lying unseen,
God has a future waiting for you
Five little pebbles, sturdy and true.

Five little pebbles hid in a brook.
David came down and gave them a look,
Picked them up carefully out of the sand:
Five little pebbles lay in his hand.

Hark! there is shouting and fighting today,
And boldly these pebbles are borne to the fray:
One of them chosen and put in a sling.
Would we have thought that a stone could thus wing?

Onward it sped with a might not its own:
Onward it sped, by a shepherd boy thrown;
Swift as an arrow, straight as a dart!
For the whole nation that stone did its part,
Striking the giant's great, terrible head,
Laying him low--a mighty man dead.

Five little pebbles found in a brook
Are mentioned with honour in God's holy Book.
Be thou a pebble, contented and low,
Ever kept clean by His Spirit's pure flow,
Hidden and ready till Jesus shall look
And choose you, and use you, a stone from the brook.
(1Sam.17:40)
--Samuel J. B. Carter

235. Thy Will be done. No greater words than these
Can pass from human lips, than these which rent
Their way through agony and bloody sweat,
And broke the silence of Gethsemane
To save the world from sin.
--G. A. Studdert-Kennedy

236. We are bid to take, not to make our cross. God in His providence will provide one for us.

237. Christ's cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bare; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird or sails to a ship.--Samuel Rutherford

238. Prepare yourselves to become weaker & weaker; prepare yourselves for sinking lower & lower in self-esteem; prepare yourselves for self-annihilation--& pray God to expedite the process.

239. When you put your life on the altar, when you make ready & accept to die, you are invincible. You have nothing any more to lose.

240. It is easier to give anything we have than to give ourselves.

241. God does not ask about our ability or our inability, but our availability.

242. It has always been my ambition to have no plans as regards myself.

243. Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.

244. Without Christ, not one step; with Him, anywhere!

245. A disciple can be forgiven if he does not have great mental ability. He can be forgiven also if he does not display outstanding physical prowess. But no disciple can be excused if he does not have zeal. If his heart is not aflame with a red-hot passion for the Saviour, he stands condemned.

246. Mix a conviction with a man & something happens!

247. A zealous Saviour ought to have zealous disciples.

248. A man cannot be thoroughly humbled until he comes to know that his salvation is utterly beyond his own powers, counsel, endeavours, will & works & is absolutely dependent upon the will, counsel & pleasure of another.

249. If God were not my friend, Satan would not be so much my enemy.

250. Put relentless hands down into your heart, & tear out by the roots everything that will not advance the interests of the Redeemer's Kingdom.

251. God does not want us to think less of ourselves. He wants us not to think of ourselves at all.

252. There are no trivial assignments in the work of the Lord.

253. Men who love much will work much.

254. God knows all about my health & need of a rest & need of many other things regarded as absolutely necessary...I gladly laugh at being without them, & rejoice in a living death with a marvellous joy in order to fill the place that others have left unoccupied whatever their reasons for so doing.--C.T.Studd

255. I have taken my good deeds & bad deeds & thrown them together in a heap, & fled from them both to Christ, & in Him I have peace.

256. Recreation to a preacher of the Gospel must be a whetting is with the mower, that is, only to be used so far as is necessary for his work.

257. A religion which costs nothing is worth nothing.

258. How we use our money demonstrates the reality of our love for God. It proves our love more conclusively than depth of knowledge, length of prayers or prominence of service.

259. To pay the price of obedience is to escape the cost of disobedience.

260. Doing the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.

261. What is obedience? Giving up my will to the will of another.

262. True obedience neither procrastinates nor questions.

263. Christian obedience is unlike every other kind of obedience. It is not the obedience of slaves or soldiers, but essentially the obedience of lovers who know, love & trust the person who issues the commands.

264. If God has called you, don't spend time looking over your shoulder to see who is following.

265. When Christ takes the burden of guilt off a sinner's shoulders He places the yoke of obedience upon his neck.

266. Just as obedience to the Lord is an indication of our love for Him, so is it also a proof of our fear of God.

267. God marks with sorrow the point in the history of any one of His servants where there is failure to yield to Him implicit, unquestioning, heroic obedience.

268. Obedience to God is the most infallible evidence of sincere & supreme love to Him.

269. Not only does God require obedience, but an obedience which issues from, is animated by, & is an expression of Love.

270. Christ's lovers prove their love by their obedience.

271. The possessive clinging to things...must be torn from our souls in violence as Christ expelled the money changers from the temple.

272. Oh, how greatly has the man advanced who has learned not to be his own, not to be governed by his own reason, but to surrender his mind to God!

273. What then is the nature of true liberty? Not being free to do anything you want to do, but in coming to the place where you delight in the performance of what you ought to do.

274. The primary test of life is not service but love, both for man & for God.

275. Idolatry is everywhere represented in Scripture as the greatest insult the creature can offer the Creator.

276. Man in his rebellion against the Creator remains incurably religious, & he seeks to satisfy this instinct by making his own deities. He much prefers these lifeless puppets to the One True Living God, because they allow him to pull the strings.

277. Not to do what we ought to do is as bad as doing what we ought not to do.

278. To be much like Christ, be much with Christ.

279. We are not merely to serve Christ, we are to be like Him.

280. No Christian is where he ought to be spiritually until the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ is being reproduced in his daily Christian life.

281. To withhold one thing from God is theft, for everything is His.

282. Anything that takes God's place is out of place.

283. What is holiness except Christlikeness?

284. To be holy is to be like Jesus.

285. Christians are the light of the World, but the switch must be turned on.

286. The roots of happiness grow deepest in the soil of service.

287. Character does not reach its best until it is controlled, harnessed & disciplined.

288. The greatness of a man's power is the measure of his surrender.

289. I will place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the Kingdom of Christ.--David Livingstone

290. Before we can pray, "Thy Kingdom come," we must be willing to pray, "My kingdom go."

291. Christianity is the total commitment of all I know of me to all I know of Jesus Christ.

292. Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
--Isaac Watts

293. Unless I go about my business of saving the souls of men with an energy & a zeal almost amounting to madness, nobody will take any notice of me, much less believe what I say & make everlasting profit out of it.--William Booth

294. Give me the love that leads the way,
The faith that nothing can dismay,
The hope no disappointments tire,
The passion that will burn like fire.
Let me not sink to be a clod;
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
--Amy Carmichael

295. If by excessive zeal we die before reaching the average age of man, worn out in the Master's service, then glory be to God, we shall have so much less of Earth & so much more of Heaven.

296. The supreme need of the church is the same in the twentieth century as in the first; it is men on fire for Christ.

297. No craze is so great as that of the gambler, & no gambler for Jesus was ever cured, thank God.

298. Let us live as people who are prepared to die, & die as people who are prepared to live.

299. The first qualification for being a spiritual shepherd is to be a good sheep.

300. The Christian life is not applied like make-up to the outside of our personalities, but is an outgrowth from an inner transformation.