There is terror in the Bible as well as comfort. Some time ago a woman asked a Christian friend what warrant there was for saying that there would be some people who would not be in heaven. Why would not everyone be saved? The Christian gave an astonishing answer, but one which is perfectly valid. She replied that John 3:16 was the greatest proof that there were people who would be lost.
The world neither expects nor understands devotion to God. Non-Christians are actuated entirely by motives that are of and for self. When the unbeliever sees a believer looking to the Lord he turns his gaze heavenward, and seeing nothing but clouds, he thinks that there is something slightly wrong with the believer.
The power and boldness of those who witness for Christ do not come from any spiritual experience of the past, but from present, active contact with the risen Lord. The first experience is not to be discounted, but in no wise can it be made to account for the present strength of believers.
"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" (Prov. 25:11), or perhaps a little closer to the Hebrew, "like apples of gold sculptured against a background of silver." The idea is that an arrow which hits the target is better than a dozen arrows which fall short. One of the happiest things that a minister of the Gospel can hear is that a word he has spoken in his sermon, when totally unconscious of the need of an individual, has been the exact word needed for an individual.
A columnist in a San Francisco paper wrote concerning the callous unconcern of the general public to those who are in real need. He had interviewed a man who had notified bridge police that a woman was attempting to climb over the railing of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The police had been totally unconcerned and a little while later the woman had succeeded in plunging to her death. Her life could have been saved.
