Devotion to the Cause of Christ.
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 43, No. 6, June 1904.
By devotion to the cause of Christ we mean the act of zealously devoting or applying one's self or one's time to the Saviour's cause, a strong and ardent attachment to that cause as the chief object of pursuit. The interest we take in the pursuit of any object, it seems, must be in proportion to our affection for it and our real desire to obtain the benefit of pleasure we think it will afford us. What a wonder it is that those who profess the religion of Jesus are not more devoted to it! Do they not believe that the benefit and satisfaction to be derived from active devotion to that one great cause are far more excellent than what all other pursuits afford?The Lord claims his people for his portion. He accounts them his jewels, and their happiness in time and eternity is one of the great ends he has in view. In this all his dispensations of providence and grace toward them shall finally terminate. He deals familiarly with them, and calls them not servants but friends. He shows them the strong foundations and inviolable securities of his faithfulness, reveals to them all they are susceptible of knowing about the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of his love, and the unsearchable riches of his grace. He permits them to mention before him all their cares, fears, wants and troubles. His ear is always open to them, and he is never weary of hearing their complaints and answering their petitions. He himself is their protection and their guide.
Those who profess to believe all this ought to regard themselves as no longer their own. It is wholly inconsistent to claim these favors and blessings, and many more that could be mentioned, and yet lack devotion to the cause of such a Friend. There are many of his children who have not even professed his religion before men. Oh! base ingratitude! He calls upon his people to follow him, and yet many of them remain in the cold world and tread the thorny path of disobedience! How we wish that our words may reach the hearts of some of his ungrateful children and awaken them from their slumbers to a realization of their duty to him! Dear ones, we beg you to slight the invitations of his servants no longer. How glad they would be to welcome you into the fold and assist you on your way, and how much happier you would be in the pathway of obedience!
But a lack of devotion is shown by church members as well as by those who have never come out from the world. How sluggish and lifeless are many professors of religion! They absent themselves from their own church meetings to attend to secular affairs, pretending that they cannot afford to devote one day in the month to the holy service of the Master they have professed to love. Oh! that we could make them see how shameful this looks! To believe that God is our Father, Jesus is our Saviour, the Holy Spirit is our Comforter, that the support and protection of this triune God is ours below, and that an endless home with him in heaven awaits us, and then show indifference and disrespect to his cause and neglect it for perishable things of time, does look so very inconsistent! Can't you see it, your careless ones? "If ye love me, deep my commandments," is the touching appeal made to you by the Saviour who gave his own life for you. "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together," is one of his commandments given through his inspired writer. Can you, oh! can you afford to allow yourselves to grow indifferent to the commands of such a precious, loving Prince of peace? We mean you who did not attend your last church meeting on Saturday, but would have sone so if you could have made a hundred dollars or even less by attending. Yes, indeed; we mean you!
Merely attending the church service is not showing as much devotion to the cause as should be done by those who profess to believe that the Christian religion is so much to them. There are expenses to be met. The poor, destitute ones need help; the pastor ought to be supported; repairs to the house of worship are sometimes necessary. Some are worth many thousands of dollars who drop in a dime when donations are called for. Some give a quarter who ought to cheerfully give five or ten dollars. Yet these very ones know they must soon die and leave their earthly possessions, and they profess to believe or at least to hope they will then go to the "bright mansions on high." If they are children of God we are sure they will in spite of their miserable stinginess below. But this miserly spirit is wicked. We know that to hint at the tightness of the pocket strings of these greedy ones is to touch the most tender cord of their nature, but it needs to be touched and even probed. Some give nothing who could give something, and some give a little mite who could give a great deal. Let each one awaken to more fervent devotion to that cause they profess to believe is above all others. If al would do what they can do and should do the burden on each would be light indeed, and all would prove their profession of religion to be sincere.
Our devotion should not be confined to attendance and financial aid. These are indispensable duties, but they do not include all that is required. One might be at church every meeting and do his full duty in a financial way, and still be like a dead limb in a green tree. To come and go in a mechanical way, and show no interest in the service is to display only a dead profession. Do you ask what you must do? Show some interest in the meeting. Act in a way to show that you feel that it is your church, your house of worship, your service, your preacher, your gospel, and your God that is being praised. Get there on time and greet all with a word of gladness. Encourage your poor heart-burdened minister by showing an interest in the gospel he proclaims, and do not sit like stumps or hang your heads like weeping willows. Wake up from your lethargy and move forward, and God will bless you, for he has promised to do so. Let all the members of the church rally to the front and thus prove to the world that the religion of Jesus is not a vain and foolish thing, but the chief object of their lives.
This is not meant for all Baptist members, but I is meant for all described herein. However, we might all show more zealous devotion for such a high and holy cause as the one we have espoused. Let us all do all in our power, praying God to help us.
J. R. D.
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