By:
Edited By Heymen Wreford
A CHRISTIAN blacksmith was approached by an intelligent unbeliever with the question, “Why is it you have so much trouble? I have been watching you. Since you ‘joined the church’ and began to ‘walk square’ you have had twice as many trials and accidents as you had before. I thought that when a man gave himself to God his troubles were over.”
With a thoughtful but glowing face the blacksmith replied: “Do you see this piece of iron? It is for the springs of a carriage. I have been tempering it for some time. To do this I beat it red-hot, and then plunge it into a tub of ice-cold water. This I do many times. If I find it taking ‘temper,’ I heat and hammer it unmercifully. In getting the right piece of iron I found several that were too brittle, so I threw them in the scrap pile. Those scraps are worth about a cent a pound; this carriage spring is very valuable.”
He paused, and his listener nodded. The blacksmith continued: “God saves us for something more than to have a good time — that’s the way I see it. We have the good time all right, for God’s smile means heaven. But He wants us for service, just as I want this piece of iron. And He has put the ‘temper’ of Christ in us by testing us with trial. Ever since I saw this I have been saying to Him, “Test me in any way you choose, Lord; only don’t throw me in the scrap pile!”
SEL.