As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to him,--what can you do to obtain it?
It is peace that you need,--Heaven's forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own effort, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, "without money and without price."* It is yours, if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it. The Lord says, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."* "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you."
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Through nature and revelation, through his providence and by the influence of his Spirit, God speaks to us. But these are not enough; we need also to pour out our hearts to him. In order to have spiritual life and energy, we must have actual intercourse with our Heavenly Father. Our minds may be drawn out toward him; we may meditate upon his works, his mercies, his blessings; but this is not, in the fullest sense, communing with him. In order to commune with God, we must have something to say to him concerning our actual life.
Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary, in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to him.
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The children of God are called to be representatives of Christ, showing forth the goodness and mercy of the Lord. As Jesus has revealed to us the true character of the Father, so we are to reveal Christ to a world that does not know his tender, pitying love. "As thou hast sent me into the world," said Jesus, "even so have I also sent them into the world." "I in them, and thou in me, . . . that the world may know that thou hast sent me."* The apostle Paul says to the disciples of Jesus, "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men."* In every one of his children, Jesus sends a letter to the world. If you are Christ's follower, he sends in you a letter to the family, the village, the street, where you live. Jesus, dwelling in you, desires to speak to the hearts of those who are not acquainted with him. Perhaps they do not read the Bible, or do not hear the voice that speaks to them in its pages; they do not see the love of God through his works. But if you are a true representative of Jesus, it may be that through you they will be led to understand something of his goodness, and be won to love and serve him.
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