THERE is in our day a very considerable amount of true gospel energy, for which all real Christians should thank God; but the greatest amount of religious activity, without question, goes in the direction of outward things, and causes Christian people rather to weep than to rejoice. It may flatter the feelings of many when they give their time and strength to the cause of decorating a building or getting up an entertainment in the name of Christianity, but such things only blind men’s souls to the reality of sin and of judgment, and keep unsaved sinners amused by the name of religion.
Religion is popularized by being rendered as little real as can be, and men and women are duped into fancying themselves working for Christ by doing things which belong rather to the business of upholsterers, decorators and purveyors of amusements. Neither is this deadly delusion affecting merely one denomination of Christians; it is the popular spirit of the day.
What, then, is the path of the earnest worker for Christ, in the midst of these besetments? Just that in which the apostles trod when they preached Christ to ritualistic Jews and world-worshipping pagans. Preach Christ. Mission workers are wanted who shall preach Christ, and Christ alone.
When the apostle saw with prophetic glance what Christianity would become, he, by the Spirit of God, cried out ‘Preach the Word.’ That Word is as quick and powerful today as it was of old. It is God’s Word, and can never lose its force. Let, then, the true Christian heed this solemn exhortation, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” (2 Tim. 4:1, 21I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:1‑2)).
There is no question but that men are woefully ignorant of the Word of God, neither does Satan care, if he can keep the Word from man, whether the mind be engaged with “religion” or anything else.
Let the Christian reader earnestly and prayerfully address himself in these days to the mission of preaching the Word.
H.F.W.