Aug. 23, 2008 - I Have Much More to Say to You

I have much more to say to you

(J. R. Miller, "The Building of Character" 1894)

"I have much more to say to you--more than you can now bear." John 16:12

All learning is slow. This is true in proportion to the importance of the
lessons. We learn some things quickly--but they are not the things which
are of greatest value. Mere head-lessons are gotten more easily than
heart-lessons. We may memorize the beatitudes in a few minutes--but it
takes many years to learn to live them! And in spiritual and moral
lessons--living is the only learning which counts. Anyone can memorize a
code of ethics by heart, without much effort. But to get the faultless
code wrought into conduct, disposition, spirit, and character--is the work
of a lifetime!

In life-teaching, the lessons are given only as fast as they are learned.
Our Master will not teach us more rapidly than we can live His lessons. It
was in the midst of His most confidential talk with His disciples, that He
said He had much more to say to them--more than they could now bear.

Spiritual truths can be received--only as we come to the experiences for
which they are adapted. There are many of the divine promises which we can
never claim, and whose blessedness we cannot realize--until we come to the
points in life, for which they were specially given.

For example: "He will conceal me in His shelter in the day of adversity;
He will hide me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high on a
rock." This word can mean nothing to the child playing amid the flowers,
or to the young man or woman walking in sunny paths--without a care or a
trial. It can be understood only by one who is in the depths of trouble.
In the days of gladness, when there is no trouble, no pain--there are many
of God's Words which seem to have no meaning for us. We do not need them.
They are for times of sorrow--and we have no sorrow. They are lamps for
the darkness--and we are not walking in darkness. They are for days of
pain and loss--and we have no pain, and are called to endure no loss.

There is a large part of the Bible which can be received by us, only when
we come into the places for which the words were given. There are promises
for weakness--which we can never get, while we are strong. There are
promises for times of danger--which we can never know, in the days when we
need no protection. There are consolations for sickness whose comfort we
can never get, while we are in robust health. There are promises for times
of loneliness, when men walk in solitary ways--which never can come with
real meaning to us, while loving companions are by our side. There are
words for old age--which we never can appropriate for ourselves along the
years of youth, when the arm is strong, the blood warm, and the heart
brave.

Christ says to us then, "I have much more to say to you--more than you can
now bear." We could not understand these lessons now. But by and by when
we come into places of need, of sorrow, of weakness, of failure, of
loneliness, of sickness, of old age--then He will tell us these other
things, these long-withheld things, and they will be full of joy for our
hearts!

There are beatitudes for certain conditions. "Blessed are those who
mourn--for they shall be comforted." But only those who are in sorrow, can
experience the blessedness of divine comfort. Thus all the treasures of
the Bible are ready to open to us--the moment we have the experience which
the particular grace in them is intended to supply. Hence it is that the
Bible is never exhausted. Men read it over and over again, and each time
they find something new in it--new promises, new comforts, new revealings
of divine love. The reason is, they are growing in experience, and every
new experience develops new needs, and brings them to new revealings.

Thus, as life goes on, the meaning of Christ's words come out clearer and
clearer, until the child's heedless repetition of them, becomes the
utterance of the faith and trust of the strong man's very soul.

This is the great law of divine revealing. We learn Christ's
teaching--only as fast as we are able to bear it. So we may wait in
patient faith when mysteries confront us, or when shadows lie on our
pathway, confident that He who knows all--has in gentle love withheld from
us for the time, the revealing we crave, because we could not yet endure
the knowledge.


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Comments

Aug. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by PinkFlamingo

Hi Brooke,
I know you're not blogging over here much anymore, so I don't know if you're doing the "award thing" or not, but I just wanted to let you know that I've given you an award. :-) Come to my blog to see it.
Have a great day!
Ashley

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Sep. 26, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by DancingFeet

Don't forget to wish Ashley (PinkFlamingo) a happy birthday tomorrow, either on your blog or in a comment!
Thanks!
~Briana

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Nov. 14, 2008 - Hey!

Posted by dixiefiddler

I just wanted to say hi! Check out how you were doing...^_^

Love ya,
~Sarah

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