The Separating Power of Things Present
George H. Morrison
Romans 8:38
It is notable that in his enumeration of things which might dim the love of God to us, the apostle should make mention of things present, and by things present I take it that he means the events and trials of the present day. Many of us know how things to come may tempt us to doubt the love of God. The anxieties and forebodings of tomorrow often cloud the sunshine of today. But Paul, who knew all that as well as we do for his apostleship gave no exemptions, knew also the separating power of things present. The task in which we are presently engaged, the thronging duties of the common day, the multitude of things we must get through before we betake ourselves to bed at night, these, unless we continually watch, are apt to blind us to the great realities and to separate us from the love of God in Christ.
In part that separating power arises from the exceeding nearness of things present. Things which are very near command our vision and often lead to erroneous perspective. When I light the lamp in my quiet study, the moon may be riding through the sky, the stars may be glittering in heavenly brilliance, proclaiming that the hand which made them is divine. But the lamp is near me at my side, and I read by it and write my letters by it, and very often the stars are quite forgotten. Things present are things near, and near things have a certain blinding power. You can blot the sun out with a halfpenny piece if you only hold it near enough the eye. And yet the sun is a majestic creature, beautifier and conserver of the world, and the halfpenny is but a worn and trifling coin. For most of us each day that dawns brings its round of present duties. They absorb us, commanding every energy, and so doing may occasionally blind us. And that is why in busy crowded lives where near things are so swift to tyrannize, we all require moments of withdrawal. To halt a moment and just to say "God loves me"; to ...
George H. Morrison
Romans 8:38
It is notable that in his enumeration of things which might dim the love of God to us, the apostle should make mention of things present, and by things present I take it that he means the events and trials of the present day. Many of us know how things to come may tempt us to doubt the love of God. The anxieties and forebodings of tomorrow often cloud the sunshine of today. But Paul, who knew all that as well as we do for his apostleship gave no exemptions, knew also the separating power of things present. The task in which we are presently engaged, the thronging duties of the common day, the multitude of things we must get through before we betake ourselves to bed at night, these, unless we continually watch, are apt to blind us to the great realities and to separate us from the love of God in Christ.
In part that separating power arises from the exceeding nearness of things present. Things which are very near command our vision and often lead to erroneous perspective. When I light the lamp in my quiet study, the moon may be riding through the sky, the stars may be glittering in heavenly brilliance, proclaiming that the hand which made them is divine. But the lamp is near me at my side, and I read by it and write my letters by it, and very often the stars are quite forgotten. Things present are things near, and near things have a certain blinding power. You can blot the sun out with a halfpenny piece if you only hold it near enough the eye. And yet the sun is a majestic creature, beautifier and conserver of the world, and the halfpenny is but a worn and trifling coin. For most of us each day that dawns brings its round of present duties. They absorb us, commanding every energy, and so doing may occasionally blind us. And that is why in busy crowded lives where near things are so swift to tyrannize, we all require moments of withdrawal. To halt a moment and just to say "God loves me"; to ...
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