Common Sense

From the Differentiator magazine:
Vol. 19 New Series December, 1957 No. 6

Dear Reader: When you were young, life seemed to be endless, and you did not contemplate that inevitable event which people, as they grow old, come to realize they cannot escape, Death, and also judgment.

Death is the great enemy of mankind, but there is another great enemy, that Evil Spirit whose aim is to darken your comprehension so that you cannot think clearly for yourself. Why permit your mind to be obscured by the unreality which exists in the world of human society? You do not enjoy being tricked or fooled by anyone. Why, then, do you allow yourself to be deluded and blinded by mere outward appearances? Why allow yourself to be totally blinded to the fact of God? Why not be businesslike, and get the great question of your future settled now? You are businesslike in daily matters? Why then be utterly foolish as regards the inevitable future? You cannot escape the grave. But why must it be a Christless grave? Do you not wish to escape that stern Judgment which your own heart tells you and warns you instinctively must be the lot of all who ignore the present "Day of Salvation"?

Much trouble is very often caused when people die without leaving a Will. But it will be much worse if you die without learning that God is now seeking the friendship of the world (2. Cor. 5:19-20). It will be much worse for you if you permit yourself to be deluded and muzzled by the cold conventionality of a world of men and women who do not want to think at all of death or of a God, who would fain shut God out of His own universe, politely if possible.

Why not make your Will here and now, and enter into peace? Why not now, without effort or cost, enter into perfect and everlasting peace and friendship with the Owner of the Universe?
You say you have no real friends, or few faithful friends, or perhaps your friends have disappointed you. You find it difficult to remain friendly with others. Well, you will only be very foolish if you do not welcome the changeless friendship of God in Christ. You will be very foolish If you prefer to lie in cold death for long ages until the Judgment obliges you to admit your lost condition. Then you will discover that you cannot do without God. You will bow the knee and acknowledge His Christ.

Perhaps you declare that you are as good as anybody else. But are you prepared to say you are as bad as anybody else? Are you willing to admit that you possess within you the latent seeds of all crimes and vices? If you cannot admit that, you are not honest. If you are good, then you will prove the fact by performing the first righteous action anyone can do—admit that you have no righteousness of your own. If you deny that, then you are simply dishonest and untruthful. If you are honest and truthful, you must know that so far as God and the future are concerned, you are LOST. And how ridiculous, to be lost from a God who is crying out for your friendship!
But you cannot elude Him who is determined to gain the friendship of all His creatures. That was why He brought us into existence. Your birth was a creative act of His, so to that extent you belong to Him, for all Mankind is God's Kin (Acts 17:29). God is responsible for your existence, and will yet claim you. No one can remain for ever lost to God.

Or perhaps you make the fine claim that you are an atheist. But it is only silly pride that makes anyone claim that. Nor is anyone truly agnostic, though he will seem very important when he can make these claims. One seems clever and important when he avers that he does not know what to believe. That is an easy way out. But it will help you nothing in the Judgment, for even atheists and agnostics know deep down in their hearts that they must yet answer for their deeds and their lives. You know full well that the imperfection of your life, its incompleteness, its apparent mystery, demand a future Judgment and rectification and explanation. Apart from that, your life will have been utterly aimless and worthless, and for no purpose.

Mankind's Devastating Fall brought him very low. Though still in God's image physically to some extent, morally he comes very far short. But do not forget that He who was God in Human Form, He who is God's Image, stooped very much lower than mankind has been brought. And it was all for you that He stooped so low. So why waste your life chasing empty illusions? The enemy seeks to fill your eyes with dust, and dazzle your mind with all sorts of ephemeral unrealities, which can never keep you out of the grave, or bring you through it.

God is earnestly seeking your friendship. He is full of kindly goodwill towards you. He is most easy to approach, "not far from each one of us." Even though we do not realize it, it is "in Him that we live and move and exist." Christ said, "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." You claim that you are wise, and intelligent. But you will be very unwise, and most foolish, if you think you can shut God out of your heart, or out of His own universe.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

Alexander Thomson