There are a good many sincere men who find it much easier to be minor philanthropists than faithful servants of Christ. It is so much more pleasing to the flesh to "worship and serve God IN MY OWN WAY" than to sign over the title - deed of one's life to Christ -- henceforth becoming His willing slave, His joyful servant. It is so much more self - satisfying to devise one's own scheme for living (playing god) than it is to search out God's will -- the "order" He has revealed in His Word -- and follow it.
    Mere philanthropy permits one to please himself, to exalt himself. But this is NOT the way of Christ. It is not the way He lived; He will not accept such a principle of living in us. He owned "the cattle on a thousand hills"; the whole of the created universe was at His disposal. But He GAVE HIMSELF! Never did He seek His own will, but the Father's. Never did He "please Himself"; He sought the Father's pleasure; He lived for the Father's glory. It was His "delight" to do the Father's will. Whoever would lay claim to Christian discipleship must never insist on "doing his own thing". The true disciple denies

"self" (not merely things) that his life may be abandoned to the pleasure of His risen and living Lord.
    In spite of all its boasted enlightenment, the mind of modern man is often stubborn and blind. It mistakes license for liberty and fetterlessness for freedom. To use the words of Chesterton: "trying to be unshackled, they succeed only in being unbuttoned". What it bombastically parades as "spiritual progress" is nothing more than an attempt to shout down the frustrations and fears of an unstable, rootless and (apparently) purposeless existence.
    Though one may be "saved" without it, he can never know the true blessedness of Christian discipleship without taking the "servant" position -- with regard to both God and men. He is our Lord; we serve others "for Jesus' sake". In response to our petty self - seeking God shouts "NO!" But to our "self - abandonment," in the spirit of what Paul calls a "living sacrifice", He answers with a hearty "yes".
    If the servant - life means loss, we must not complain; it meant that to Him. If it means that others will "talk" -- twisting our words, deeds and motives into something we

    "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free", (Jn. 8:3l-32).
    At Richmond's "Libbey Prison" in the capitol of the old Confederacy, the prisoners often consoled themselves by singing: "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow". Day after day they watched their comrades pass away and their numbers increase with fresh living recruits for the grave.
    One night, through the stillness of darkness; they heard the tramp, tramp of coming feet. They knew that more prisoners were arriving from the North. Among them was a young Baptist minister whose heart almost fainted as he looked at the cold walls and saw the suffering around him. Weary and sad, he sat down, put his face in his hands, and wept.

    Just then a lone voice of deep, sweet pathos sang out from an upper window, "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!" A dozen voices joined in on the second line, "Praise Him, all creatures here below". By the time the third line was reached, a dozen more joined their voices to lift on high the words, "Praise Him above, ye heavenly host". By this time the whole prison was alive with the sacred song, and from every room was lifted the joyful sound, "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost". As the song died away on the still night, and darkness enveloped the doomed city of Richmond, the young minister arose; refreshed by the strange experience He lifted his voice to sing with a heart of gratitude and joyful anticipation: "Prisons would palaces prove if Jesus would dwell with me there".
    A military prison is bad enough, but it is not the worst kind of prison. The worst prison is that of a human soul fastened behind the steel doors of unbelief -- bound down with the chains of his own sin.
    It is when one accepts Christ by faith that he knows his sins forgiven. The chains of sin are broken and the believer is set free. If YOU are in this sort of prison, the very best time to escape from self, sin and the world is NOW! Become a disciple of Jesus -- believing Him and following His truth. Ask God's forgiveness, on the basis of what He has done. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".

    It is freely admitted that few in Israel were able to conceive of the Servant as a Messianic figure, but this does not justify one in rejecting an abundance of prophetic testimony. Could it be that Israel's passionate desire for a political Messiah completely blinded her to the possibility of One for whose task suffering was not merely a consequence, but the very organ? Israel plainly DID NOT WANT a suffering Messiah. How difficult it must have been for an afflicted and subjugated people to imagine that the victory of God's kingdom could be achieved only through the vicarious sacrifice of the Servant.
    It is evident that some in Israel (though they could not harmonize the Messianic glory and humility) did regard the Servant as a Messianic figure --- hence the formulation of the "two Messiah" philosophy. Messiah ben Joseph would suffer in humiliation (falling in battle), while Messiah ben David would conquer and rule the earth in righteousness. But, on the whole, the Servant idea was driven underground and there lay quietly as a dormant seed under frozen soil.
    In the fulness of time there appeared One who could say: "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears", (Luke 4:21); Who in His life labors, sufferings and death did, quite literally, take upon Himself "the form of a Servant" (Phil. 2:7) that He might "taste death for every man" (Heb. 2:9).
    One can but wonder whether mod-

ern Judaism's desertion of the "personal Messiah" is not one result of their father's rejection of Him who so fully exhibited in His person the marks of "the suffering Servant". One of this editor's friends, a minister who is highly respected among his brethren, once related an incident, which suggests something of the Jewish hesitancy to speak frankly and openly concerning the Messiah. Seated one day in the study of the local synagogue, where he often chatted with the personable Rabbi, they had been discussing Israel's Messianic expectation. The minister inquired, "What has become of your Messiah?" For a moment the Rabbi was silent. Then he arose and opened the door. Having glanced in both directions down the hall, he closed the door and whispered: "We CRUCIFIED Him".
    Can it be that Reformed Judaism has forsaken the "personal Messiah" rather than be confronted with the claims of the lowly Galilean Who fulfilled, in minute detail, the predictions of Isaiah concerning the "suffering Servant"?

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never intended -- we must not be panicked; it was so with Him. If it means that our experimental book of sacrificial love has no happy ending (by any test the worldly - wise may put upon it), we must not be dismayed. His story ended (so far as His enemies were concerned) in a Roman crucifixion and a borrowed tomb.
    The life to which Christ calls us involves far more than merely distributing our excess goods. He

calls for nothing less than the total abandonment of ourselves into His hands - self - emptied, serving, sympathizing, submitting and sacrificing. Such a disposition is far beyond our attainment through the struggle of carnal activity; it is NOT beyond HIS GRACE TO IMPART!
    Christ is not after your "left-overs" (enormous or small as this may be); He wants YOU!! Will you say "Yes" to Him with ALL THAT YOU ARE? Right NOW?? E.G.