Article September 10, 1949 Issue

Signs of the Times

with contributions from Hoke S. Dickinson, Frank Martin

The Rev. Hoke S. Dickinson in an article in the Christian-Evangelist St. Louis, Missouri

Real religion has a way of showing itself without seeming to parade. It shows in acts that are classified as religious. But it also shows in the common round of daily life. If it doesn't show here, one may begin to wonder seriously if one has it at all. The writer [of Exodus], telling of Moses being in the mountains where he had met God, says that when he came down from this place his countenance was lighted up with a holy light. But he adds this significant statement: "Moses knew not that ... his face shone" (Ex. 34:29, American Standard Version).

If you are really a Christian person, you do not need to parade your piety, nor do you need to strive to impress people with the fact. For what you are within will, without undue effort, be revealed without.... There are many in our day who are in enthusiastic accord with making religion practical. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." Certainly this is in accord with Jesus, who said, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" I would only add this observation, that you do not have to make the Christian religion practical. You only need to live it, for it is already the most practical way of life yet revealed to man. "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27, Revised Standard Version).

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