WE cannot all be original, but as Christians we can all be fresh. No one is original who tries to be so. Originality comes without effort. Originality is not peculiarity. The former is agreeable, the latter a burden to people. We would on no account ask any one to try to be original, but we do ask all to seek to be fresh. By all, we mean Christians who speak of Christ. If in communion with Christ, we are fresh. If near Him in spirit, we are not dull and lifeless, nor can we be so. The welling spring by the wayside is not original, it is what it has been for a hundred years—but it is always fresh. It is fresh, and fresh every moment. Never the same drops over again, hence always refreshing. The water in the stagnant pond is of another description, though it is water as truly as that of the trickling brook—the secret is, it is not fresh.
Now some Christians are spring-water Christians and some are pond-water Christians! Some are in living intercourse with Christ and are ever bright and sparkling: others, though they seem to be very deep, are very dull. And you find the weary say, “Oh! so-and-so did me such good; those few words have refreshed me and gladdened me.” While of the other it is said, “How strange it seems, I have heard a good deal, yet I got nothing for my soul.”
Now as those who are in nearness to Christ are fresh, let us seek for the secret of freshness at all times, and we shall thus refresh those with whom we come in contact.