On a Saturday night some years ago a gifted young preacher was billed to take a leading part in a theatrical entertainment. The performance was described as "an extravagant farce," and the box office announced "standing room only" long before the curtain rose.
Do you question, as did some others, the propriety of a servant of God thus lending himself to the service of the world and Satan? Strange indeed was his excuse. He claimed that his purpose was not to advance himself as an actor, but to advertise his church and draw an audience to it!
When, at the end of the performance, the company was acknowledging the applause, a loud voice from the gallery shouted: "Give us the 'Glory Song,' Parson!"
Immediately the strong voice of the actor-preacher behind the footlights responded. "When all my labors and trials are o'er," he commenced. The orchestra conductor swung his baton into the rousing "Oh, that will be glory for me."
The pit and gallery started it. The dress circle was silent for a few minutes. Then they began to look ashamed of their abstention, and presently plunged wholeheartedly into the song. The orchestra stalls succumbed next, and those in the boxes could not help themselves. Presently the whole theater was engulfed in the chorus. Altogether it was the most remarkable performance ever seen or heard in that theater.
It is no lack of charity to say that probably, with few exceptions, all in that audience were unconverted. If anyone cares to dispute this statement, let him take his stand outside any theater and ask as many as he can the all-important question, "Are you converted to God?" He will soon be convinced of the truth of our assertion. Furthermore, any stray Christian in the audience would not be an earnest, bright, right-minded Christian, you may be assured.
Think then of the awful mockery of men and women, some under the influence of drink, some whose lives would bring the blush to the cheek, many mere pleasure-hunters, unconverted men and women, singing:
"When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me!"
If they had sung the truth, they would have sung lines something like this: "When by His might I shall stand in His sight, That will be wailing, be wailing for me."
How else could a sinner in his sins meet the Savior whose grace he has spurned?
On the Easter program of a church an utterly unconverted man sang a solo: "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
Oh, the mockery of unconverted lips singing such words in a church, or singing the "Glory Song" in a theater—it matters little which. Men and women may sing thus, but the testing time will come, and how will the Savior speak?
We beg of you, unconverted reader, to turn to God in real repentance of soul, and trust the Lord Jesus as your Savior. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31).
Then you can join the redeemed of the Lord in heartily and thankfully singing the chorus:
"When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me."
It will be "glory" for the believer to look on the face of the Savior, but "wailing" for the unbeliever. Which will it be for you?