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WHAT
IT MEANS TO BE
A ChristIAN
by
Islip Collyer
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Wherein
We Are Weak
If
we follow the apostolic definition further we must be conscious
of still more searching questions. "Love envieth not,
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." It cannot be
denied that as a race we are very weak and faulty in these
matters. Envy is one of the commonest of human sins, often
being the basis of personal hatreds, political agitations,
and national wars. We may find it easy to "weep with
those who weep", but hard to "rejoice with those
who rejoice". The good fortune of another man is often
provocative of angry resentment. The elevation of a fellow
worker often causes a dissatisfaction with a position which
hitherto had been accepted without complaint. A disciple of
Christ needs to bring the matter home to himself, and cleanse
his heart from this evil thing.
In
the matter of being puffed up and vaunting ourselves, our
weakness would be amusing if it were not tragic. If a disciple
is at all capable of that occasional introspection which is
necessary (1 Corinthians 11:28) he will probably sometimes
discover himself spreading forth his talents and making the
best show of them to his fellows. One who does not boast is
often restrained more by an intelligent appreciation of its
folly than by a true humility. It is possible to exercise
great skill in vaunting oneself, never appearing to boast,
but contriving to let people know of those qualities which
they might fail to observe in the absence of these clever
but apparently undesigned displays.
Then
we may note the many minor struggles and tragedies of human
life in which several of the evils enumerated by the Apostle
are blended. The efforts of successful business people to
get into "the best society", and the cruel humiliations
to which they are subjected by those who are determined to
keep them out. In turn, their still more emphatic repudiation
of ambitious climbers from a still lower grade. This proud
assumption of superiority may be seen in all grades of society,
and it is not entirely excluded from Christian brotherhood,
where there may be a tendency to form cliques, to keep out
all who are not of the elite, and to treat less favoured members
with patronage rather than friendship.
We must take note, too, of our ready tendency to resent such
treatment from those who are more fortunate, a tendency so
strong that sometimes-perhaps we might even say often- such
an assumption of superiority is suspected even when it does
not exist. On the one hand is an attitude based on sinful
pride, on the other a feeling of resentment based on envy.
True Christian love will cut out all these evils.
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Chapter 8
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page
11 
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Rejoicing
in the Truth
The
Apostle continues that love is not self-seeking, thinks no evil,
rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.
We
may be sure that the word truth is here used in a special and Scriptural
sense. There are many reports which are true as records, but the
things are evil in themselves, so that love could never rejoice
in them. The evil, the foolish and the insignificant facts of life
have nothing to do with that which the Scriptures speak of as the
Truth. The Lord Jesus spoke of truth which should make his disciples
free (John 8:32). The apostle Paul wrote of truth which should be
received in the love of it, and the apostle John wrote that his
greatest joy was to find disciples walking in this truth (2 Thessalonians
2:10; 3 John 4). It is the truth of the Gospel and of salvation
through Christ. It has ramifications wide enough to set the bounds
of all our conversations and of our far ranging thoughts. Do we
always rejoice in this, or do we sometimes find pleasure in the
contemplation of iniquity? The conversation in thousands of homes
may give a sad answer to these questions. It is to be feared that
there is a tendency in us all to find a certain pleasure in the
record of evil. A lapse from the path of virtue on the part of one
who is not a close friend provides a subject for comment in which
the error may be deplored, but with a certain evil satisfaction
in contemplating the weakness which has been exposed. Especially
is this wrong feeling present if the absent sinner has made great
professions of piety, even reproving us for faulty conduct. The
pleasure found in such conversations, redolent of scandal, is surely
"rejoicing in iniquity". Christian love finds no place
for it.
There
is another way in which this evil is manifested in connection with
a matter still more definitely ingrained in human nature. A publisher
once remarked to the writer that any hint of salacity in a forthcoming
book was the best possible advertisement. Here is wrong thought,
wrong feeling, possibly leading to wrong action. It begins with
rejoicing in iniquity, and may end with a collapse of all moral
restraint.
Some
opponents of Christianity have fulminated against Scripture narrative
because of the vices and sins there described. The real objection
of such critics has been the feeling of repugnance aroused by the
manner in which these things are presented. In the Bible, evil is
never dressed up with a delicate finery which might make it attractive.
It is revealed in stark and disgusting reality. We may learn much
from it, but we could never rejoice in it.
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Chapter 9
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