Meditations on ManhoodSample

THE WILLING SOLDIER

When the time comes, and the orders are given for the good soldier to advance to the attack, he does not wish himself away; though a perfect hail of hurtling shot whistles all around and the ranks of the army are thinned, he is glad to be there, for he feels the stern joy that flushes the face in the light of battle and he only wants to be within arm’s length of the foe and to come to close quarters with him. So is it with the genuine Christian when his heart is right with God. If he is bid to advance, let the danger be what it may, he feels he is honored by having such a service allotted to him! But are we all such? I fear not. How many of us are silent about Jesus Christ in private conversation? How little do we show forth our light before men; if we were good soldiers, such as we ought to be, we would select every favorable opportunity in private as well as in public communion with our fellow men, and prudently but yet zealously press the claims of Jesus Christ and His gospel upon them. We should each one be seeking to have his own special work for Jesus, and if no one else were attempting the task, we should, like the brave men who rush in to the storming of a battery, carry the flag first and plant it, knowing that there are hundreds of others who will follow the first brave man, who might not be able perhaps to lead the way themselves. My beloved, may you and I be ready for anything, and bold to bear witness for Christ before a scoffing world. In the pulpits where we preach, in the workshops where we labor, in the markets where we trade, in every company amidst which we are called to move—wherever we may be, may we be brave enough to acknowledge our Lord, and to uphold His cause.