Things to be Absorbed                                                         12/14/41

 

Scripture:  Psalm 46

 

Text:  Psalm 46: 10a.  “Be still, and know that I am God.”

 

A great many of the comforts of life come in packages.  In fact, practically all of those things which make us materially or physically comfortable can be seen, felt, carried, passed about from place to place or person to person.  Our food, our clothing, the building materials which make up the shelter of our homes, the vehicles in which we ride about are all of this nature.

 

Now all of these things which I have mentioned are necessary to our comfort and general well-being.  We need a certain amount of the world’s “goods” in order to get along endurably at all.  But these “goods,” which can be felt seen smelled, heard or touched, are not all that is necessary in order to make life joyful or satisfying.  In fact they are not usually even the most important essentials.

 

The greatest things in life, those things which are most necessary to happy and useful living, are not the things which can be bought and sold, traded or given in packages, but the things which are absorbed in living or spiritual ways from the lives of good and worth-while people - absorbed from the Divine spirit operating throughout God’s created world.

 

A fine, noble, righteous character is not to be bought or borrowed or received from the hands of someone else, no matter how fine that someone else may be.  There is much said about teaching and learning character; about training character.  But it remains true, that character is more caught or absorbed than taught.  It is worth far more to a person to be closely associated with a father who is absolutely honest, a mother who is conscientiously truthful, a teacher who lives the truth, a neighbor whose word can be definitely depended upon, than to take a whole series of courses on the general subject of “honesty.”  Far more often than it is learned by spoken or printed words, honesty is caught from the example, in life, of those whom we admire as being themselves honest.  Example is a far more potent teacher than is precept.

 

Let us think a bit more, then, about things in life that are not given or taken, but absorbed.  It was said of a great Christian leader that when he called upon people who were deeply troubled through serious illness or bereavement that he frequently said nothing when he went into the room except for a quiet greeting.  And yet those in trouble were definitely comforted by his visit.  Without his having talked at all they felt the sympathetic understanding of his presence.  And that presence gave them more comfort than all of the words of wisdom or counsel that might have flowed from his lips.

 

It was said of Jesus that sick people were carried into the street to be near him as he passed by.  And many were so profoundly influenced by his presence that they knew themselves cured of their troubles and relieved of their burdens.

 

I should like to mention four or five qualities which make life worth while, with which life has meaning, purpose, satisfaction, but without which life is shallow, unsatisfactory and meaningless.

 

The first is goodness.  Whenever our hearts are at their best, we admire goodness in other people.  Whenever it is our privilege to associate with a man or woman who is alert, efficient, clean-living, spiritually sensitive, conscientious, we admire his or her goodness and wish to be good like that one.  Perhaps some one trait in that admirable person seems particularly fine and you want to be like that immediately.  And you wish that he, or someone else, would tell you how to be that way.

 

Well, perhaps someone can tell you a little of how to become good in the way that you admire.  But it is far more likely that you will become good, as that one is good, through bits of association with him.  To know, to hear, to see, to talk with or associate with a good man or woman is far more likely to make you good than to talk in an abstract way with someone else about goodness.  For goodness is a spiritual quality and is absorbed rather than seized.  Furthermore, the really good person has little time or desire to talk of his goodness.  We all recognize the truth of this idea, for we are immediately suspicious when we hear a person bragging about how good he is in a particular line.  And we say to ourselves, “All right, sir, a little less hot air and more action!  Let’s see what you can do, not how much you can say.”  If you are looking for goodness, try to absorb it from the living streams that run quiet and deep.

 

Secondly, I mention courage.  Courage is not to be communicated merely by speech, except the cowardly boldness that appears in mobs.  Courage is a high quality of life.  Again, we feel suspicious of the fellow who boasts of his nerve and says that he fears nothing.  We suspect that his talk only covers his cowardice.  But when we find ourselves in the company of one who determinedly does his conscientious duty regardless of danger or opposition, whose example or fellowship helps us to do hard things that are right instead of easy things that are not right, we know that we have met a courageous person.  And the help that we want from others is not the help that does our job for us so that we can get out of it, but the help that makes us able to do our duty by ourselves so that we may be self-respecting.  When a man can help you, by his example and self control, to be courageous, then you know that he has some courage himself.  Courage is caught, or absorbed, not handed out.

 

Another such quality is peace of mind.  Amid the distractions and disorder of complicated living one frequently longs for the peace of mind that will make one master of himself, at one with God; a quiet personal power bringing order out of disorder and putting hope and purpose into living.  Here again, you don’t like to have your doctor prescribe a rest cure for you unless you feel that the rest is going to prepare you to do your job better than before.  And you lay aside or refuse the advice of friends who have nothing more to say than “don’t worry.”

 

You want a friend whose presence and example will give you confidence, whose life is restful and strong, who seems neither confused nor hurried, but strong, confident, serene.  And you want such a friend, not for what he may tell you alone, but for the peace which you can absorb from him when he is near.

 

A fourth spiritual quality - a supremely important element of worthwhile living - is love.  Love is notably a denial of all that is selfish.  It embodies generosity, good will, joy in the achievements and well-being of others.

 

How easy it is for any one to prattle of love.  But see for example how little ones respond to people who are known to love little children, not because of what those people say to the children, but because of the way they feel and act toward them.

 

Religion itself is never, and will never be, just talked into your life or mine.  Theological and moral discussions have their important place in the accurate cultivation of the mind.  But mere talk or argument have never proved the religion of the speaker, nor communicated religion from one to another.

 

The secret of the channels of religion is found somewhere in the realm of fellowship; fellowship with those who know the power of the presence of God, fellowship with God himself, in meditation.  Jesus never proved God to people by argument or by long speeches.  He himself lived in the presence of God, and those who were looking for personal inspiration knew without being told that Jesus was religious.  They absorbed it from the very atmosphere of his presence.

 

The thing that is most convincing about Jesus and about those whose lives have been influenced by him is not so much what they say as what they are and do among the peoples of this world.

 

Therefore depend not upon the things that can be bought and sold, seen or handled, for fullness of life.  But seek those qualities that can be spiritually absorbed.  See, and associate with, great souls.  Read, and speak with, great minds.  Spend time alone, in secret, with God, that His joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

 

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Dates and places delivered:

 

            Kahului Union Church, September 30, 1934

            Huelo Hawaiian Church, October 7, 1934

            Puunene Japanese Church, October 14, 1934

            Wananalua Church, Hana, October 21, 1934

            Puunene Hawaiian Church, November 4, 1934

            Wailuku Union Church, April 28, 1935

            Kahului Union Church, February 2, 1936

            Pilgrim Church, Honolulu, September 20, 1936 AM

            Wisconsin Rapids, December 14, 1941