Quiet Talks on John's Gospel by S. D. (Samuel Dickey) Gordon
page 48 of 225 (21%)
page 48 of 225 (21%)
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and the more that "least" dwindles down to the disappearing point.
God gives us His own self in Jesus. Jesus comes to live inside of us. He doesn't give us things, but Himself. We talk about salvation. There's something better--_a Saviour_. We talk about help in trouble. There's something immensely more--_a Friend_, alongside, close up. We talk about healing--sometimes, not so much these days; the subject is so much confused. There's something much better--a _Healer_, living within, whose presence means healing and health for body and spirit. Then John says, "the light shineth _in the darkness_." This is God's way of treating darkness. There are two ways of treating darkness, man's and God's. Man's way is to attack the darkness. Suppose this hall where we are were quite dark, all shuttered up, and suppose we were new on the earth, and not familiar with darkness. We want to hold a meeting. But how shall we get rid of this strange darkness that has come down over everything? Let's each of us get a bucket or pail or basin, and take some of the darkness out. So we'll get rid of it, and its inconvenience. And if the suggestion were made seriously there might be talk of putting the suggestor in a certain sort of institution for the safety of the community. Yet this is the way we go at the other darkness, the worse moral darkness. _God's way_ is quite different; indeed just the exact reverse _let the light shine._ The darkness can't stand the light. If the hall _were_ quite dark, and I scratched only a parlour-match, instantly as the little flame broke out of the end of the stick some of the darkness would go. It's surprising how much would go, and how quickly. The darkness can't stand the light. It flees like a hunted hare before a |
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