I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot atone for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot make right what is wrong, pure what is impure, holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God. Have I faith in what Jesus Christ has done? He has made a perfect Atonement, am I in the habit of constantly realizing it?

The great need is not to do things, but to believe things. The Redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is the great act of God which He has performed through Christ, and I have to build my faith upon it. If I construct my faith on my experience, I produce that most unscriptural type, an isolated life, my eyes fixed on my own whiteness.

Beware of the piety that has no pre-supposition in the Atonement of the Lord. It is of no use for anything but a sequestered life; it is useless to God and a nuisance to man. Measure every type of experience by our Lord Himself. We cannot do anything pleasing to God unless we deliberately build on the pre-supposition of the Atonement.

The Atonement of Jesus has to work out in practical, unobtrusive ways in my life. Every time I obey, absolute Deity is on my side, so that the grace of God and natural obedience coincide. Obedience means that I have banked everything on the Atonement, and my obedience is met immediately by the delight of the supernatural grace of God.

Beware of the piety that denies the natural life, it is a fraud. Continually bring yourself to the bar of the Atonement - where is the discernment of the Atonement in this thing, and in that?

God can do nothing with us if we do not yield. We recall a day of sightseeing in the palace of Genoa. We entered a room seemingly empty; bare walls, floors, and tables greeted us. Presently the guide led us across the room to the wall at the farther side. There we espied a niche in the wall. It was covered with a glass case. Behind the case was a magnificent violin, in perfect preservation—Paganini’s favorite violin; the rich old Cremona upon which he loved most of all to display his marvelous skill.

We gazed intently upon the superb instrument, with its warm rich tints, sinuous curves, and perfect model. And then we tried to imagine the wondrous strains the touch of the great master would bring forth if he were there in that quiet palace chamber . . . Nay, but this could not be! He could not possibly do so! For it was locked up against him! It gave the master no chance.

It is not how much do you have, but how much of yours does God have. Present your members as instruments to God. To present means “to place near the hand of one.” Yielded, reachable, usable—this gives God a chance.

Make it a real transaction!

God-yielded wills find the God-planned life. JAMES H. MCCONKEY

I owned a little boat a while ago And sailed a Morning Sea without a fear , And whither any breeze might fairly blow I’d steer the little craft afar or near . Mine was the boat, and mine the air , And mine the sea; not mine, a care.

My boat became my place of nightly toil. I sailed at sunset to the fishing ground. At morn the boat was freighted with the spoil That my all-conquering work and skill had found.

Mine was the boat, and mine the net, And mine the skill, and power to get.

One day there passed along the silent shore, While I my net was casting in the sea, A man, who spoke as never man before; I followed Him—new life begun in me.

Mine was the boat, but His the voice, And His the call; yet mine, the choice.

Ah, ’twas a fearful night out on the lake, And all my skill availed not at the helm, Till Him asleep I waken, crying “Take, Take Thou command, lest waters overwhelm!”

His was the boat, and His the Sea, And His the Peace o’er all and me.

Once from His boat He taught the curious throng, Then bade me let down nets out in the Sea; I murmured, but obeyed, nor was it long Before the catch amazed and humbled me.

His was the boat, and His the skill, And His the catch—and His, my will.

JOSEPH ADDISON RICHARDS

Give God a chance!

One night I went to hear a sermon on consecration. Nothing special came to me from the message, but as the preacher knelt to pray, he said, “O Lord, You know we can trust the Man who died for us.” That was my message.

As I rose from my knees and walked down the street to catch the train, I deeply pondered all that consecration would mean to my life. I was afraid as I considered the personal cost, and suddenly, above the noise of the street traffic, came this message: “You can trust the Man who died for you.”

I boarded the train, and as I traveled toward home, I thought of the changes, sacrifices, and disappointments that consecration might mean in my life—and I was still afraid.

Upon arriving home, I went straight to my room, fell on my knees, and saw my life pass before my eyes. I was a Christian, an officer in the church, and a Sunday school superintendent, but I had never yielded my life to God with a definite act of my will.

Yet as I thought of my own “precious” plans that might be thwarted, my beloved hopes to be surrendered, and my chosen profession that I might have to abandon—I was afraid.

I completely failed to see the better things God had for me, so my soul was running from Him. And then for the last time, with a swift force of convicting power to my inmost heart, came that searching message: “My child, you can trust the Man who died for you. If you cannot trust Him, then whom can you trust?”

Finally that settled it for me, for in a flash of light I realized that the Man who loved me enough to die for me could be absolutely trusted with the total concerns of the life He had saved.

Dear friend, you can trust the Man who died for you. You can trust Him to thwart each plan that should be stopped and to complete each one that results in His greatest glory and your highest good.

You can trust Him to lead you down the path that is the very best in this world for you. J. H. M.

Just as I am, Thy love unknown, Has broken every barrier down, Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come!

Life is not wreckage to be saved out of the world but an investment to be used in the world.

Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts: and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and . . . put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.—As Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Thou are no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Reckon ye . . . yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.