Ponder the Full Meaning
Have you ever pondered the full meaning of the much-quoted verse in the Old Testament, Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”?
I have compared this verse in a number of translations. Goodspeed says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn that shines ever more brightly until the day is full.” Rotherham says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn going on and brightening unto a more radiant day.”
This is an inspired utterance concerning a true relationship with God. Through it, the writer is saying to us that when a person becomes a Christian, the sun comes up. Then, his experience along the path should be like the appearing of the dawn and the glowing of the light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Christians are very fond of this verse. They memorize it—they quote it—but they don’t believe it! If they really believed it, they would enter into this experience—“that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”!
I am of the opinion that we cannot experience that which we have not believed. This is the reason why many Christians remain about where they are—day after day, week after week, year after year. Time moves along, and special revival speakers come and go. As a result, we have little spells in which we hope to do better. But if we are honest, we must admit that most Christians stay mired down right where they are.
The sad thing is that there are many in our churches who do not have a long time to live. They have grown old and yet they are not one inch farther up the mountain than they were on that day when the sun first arose on them in conversion. In fact, some are not even as far advanced along the way with God as they were a few years ago! It is a sad truth that they have already known a day in the past when their faith was keener, their love warmer, the tears nearer the surface, their love of prayer greater, purity and separation brighter, and the principle within more marked than it is now.
If these things are true, I can only conclude that these are “common” Christians—men and women who do not hear the Lord speaking to them as they should.
Have you ever pondered the full meaning of the much-quoted verse in the Old Testament, Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”?
I have compared this verse in a number of translations. Goodspeed says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn that shines ever more brightly until the day is full.” Rotherham says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn going on and brightening unto a more radiant day.”
This is an inspired utterance concerning a true relationship with God. Through it, the writer is saying to us that when a person becomes a Christian, the sun comes up. Then, his experience along the path should be like the appearing of the dawn and the glowing of the light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Christians are very fond of this verse. They memorize it—they quote it—but they don’t believe it! If they really believed it, they would enter into this experience—“that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”!
I am of the opinion that we cannot experience that which we have not believed. This is the reason why many Christians remain about where they are—day after day, week after week, year after year. Time moves along, and special revival speakers come and go. As a result, we have little spells in which we hope to do better. But if we are honest, we must admit that most Christians stay mired down right where they are.
The sad thing is that there are many in our churches who do not have a long time to live. They have grown old and yet they are not one inch farther up the mountain than they were on that day when the sun first arose on them in conversion. In fact, some are not even as far advanced along the way with God as they were a few years ago! It is a sad truth that they have already known a day in the past when their faith was keener, their love warmer, the tears nearer the surface, their love of prayer greater, purity and separation brighter, and the principle within more marked than it is now.
If these things are true, I can only conclude that these are “common” Christians—men and women who do not hear the Lord speaking to them as they should.
Ponder the Full Meaning
Have you ever pondered the full meaning of the much-quoted verse in the Old Testament, Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”?
I have compared this verse in a number of translations. Goodspeed says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn that shines ever more brightly until the day is full.” Rotherham says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of the dawn going on and brightening unto a more radiant day.”
This is an inspired utterance concerning a true relationship with God. Through it, the writer is saying to us that when a person becomes a Christian, the sun comes up. Then, his experience along the path should be like the appearing of the dawn and the glowing of the light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Christians are very fond of this verse. They memorize it—they quote it—but they don’t believe it! If they really believed it, they would enter into this experience—“that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”!
I am of the opinion that we cannot experience that which we have not believed. This is the reason why many Christians remain about where they are—day after day, week after week, year after year. Time moves along, and special revival speakers come and go. As a result, we have little spells in which we hope to do better. But if we are honest, we must admit that most Christians stay mired down right where they are.
The sad thing is that there are many in our churches who do not have a long time to live. They have grown old and yet they are not one inch farther up the mountain than they were on that day when the sun first arose on them in conversion. In fact, some are not even as far advanced along the way with God as they were a few years ago! It is a sad truth that they have already known a day in the past when their faith was keener, their love warmer, the tears nearer the surface, their love of prayer greater, purity and separation brighter, and the principle within more marked than it is now.
If these things are true, I can only conclude that these are “common” Christians—men and women who do not hear the Lord speaking to them as they should.
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