03.02 The truth attained by sacrifice
II. THE TRUTH ATTAINED BY SACRIFICE
These two parables are at one in presenting this possession of Truth as something which demands sacrifice if it is to be attained. The men sold all that they had in order to secure their discovery. When once we have come to take the Revelation of Jesus Christ as true, there is only one place which it can fill in our life it is the place of supremacy. To secure it, to realize it as our own, to enjoy its wealth, we must be ready to make any sacrifice. We do not possess it if we only believe that it exists, or that it is of great value. We do not possess it if we only discern it see at times visions of its beauty and richness, of all that it might bring into our life. We do not possess it even if in moments of high emotion we seem to feel and know its wealth and ’power. Possession is secured only by sacrifice sacrifice which is willing to cover the whole range of life. We must be willing to sell all that we have in order to buy. Is it not true do we not in our conscience know it to be true that the reason why so many of us who believe in the truth of our religion, who even have glimpses of its wonders and beauty, and occasional experiences of its power, do not really possess it, and are not possessed by it, is simply that we have not yet made up our minds that for us it is to be the supreme thing? It is when we stake something for Christ and His Truth, stake some inward struggle or outward service that we begin to make sure of our vital hold upon Him. Certainly those who stake most fully seem always to possess most surely. There are men now working in the native quarter of Calcutta, in the heart of Central Africa, in the crowds of East London, who know that the promise of our Lord is always fulfilled “There is no man that hath left house or parents or brethren or wife or children for the Kingdom of God’s sake who shall not receive manifold more in this present time and in the world to come life everlasting.” Your religion will be a possession of happiness and power only in proportion as it is thorough and thoroughness is tested by sacrifice.
TAGS: [Parables]