George S. Caroland in The Christian Evangelist-Front Rank St. Louis, Missouri

"Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.' And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.' And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt'" (Matthew 26:36-39, Rev. Stand. Ver.).

One struggle of every person is the tug of war that goes on between his own selfish will and the will of God. . . . The problem of self plagues every individual until he resolves it. . . .

This is an implication of my faith that every person is a child of God, created "in his image." This means that he is more than a creature. . . . It is of vital importance how one thinks of himself. For me it makes a difference that I am a child of God. . . . It means that from the beginning I am "related" to God; and that he cares for me and has concern for my needs. It means that I have opportunities, resources, and obligations, because of all this. It means too that I have a relationship to every other child of God. . . . I am grateful to Jesus Christ and his church for helping me comprehend this and its implications.

However, with all my high ideals and intentions, I still have "I" trouble. I have desires, wants, and needs, which daily clamor for priority and thus push into the background the just but seemingly less-pressing claims of God. It is helpful to read of the struggle of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, to know that he had a similar type of temptation.

Jesus' wrestling with himself in Gethsemane shows the way of victory for every man: obedience to God. I have no doubt that he was really tempted to escape the cross (the "cup" of the prayer). The temptation itself was as searching and bitter as anyone has known.

His decision, "not as I will, but as thou wilt," prepared him for enduring victoriously the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion. Had he let "self" prevail, today he would not be looked upon as the resurrected Christ.

We can be profoundly grateful for his almost inconceivable act of faith in God, and that it came out of a genuine personal struggle with temptation. His victory is our hope.

Excerpts from an article in The Healing Life St. Ives, Cornwall, England

Speaking on spiritual healing at his Diocesan Conference a former Bishop of St. Alban's said it was a subject about which he had tried to think and to work at for the last twenty years and more. . . . It seemed to him that to a Christian some things ought to be clear enough.

"I believe God is the one and only ultimate source and support of all life . . ." he proceeded. "I believe . . . that He is always on the side of wholeness, health, and order in the physical as in the mental, moral and spiritual spheres. Nature, as physiologists tell us, is always seeking to restore, to heal, and to make good. . As a Christian I believe that what the physiologist calls Nature's laws are God's laws. I believe, therefore, that God's will ... is perfect wholeness of body, mind and spirit in man.

"I believe, therefore, that disease and disorder or discord in the physical sphere is just as much against God's will as disease, disorder, or discord in the moral or spiritual sphere. ... I cannot, therefore, believe that it is right to say, when a human being dies of a physical disorder, that it was God's will to take him. If I said that, I should feel that I had blasphemed. . . . And if physical disease is God's will and wish and desire, why, I ask, did Christ, Who came to do His will, fight against it and heal the sick? . . .

"Preach the Gospel, and heal the sick. Those were Our Lord's orders to His disciples, and I believe they are still His orders to His Church here on earth. And, after all, He was only telling His disciples to carry on the work which they had themselves seen Him do. He preached the Gospel, . . . and He healed all manner of disease."

Rev. L. Harrison Ludwig in sermonette published in The Marion Star Marion, Ohio

Christians are to be the light of the world ... to be the salt of the earth. Christ also suggested the possibility that salt might lose its saltiness. Then it is good for nothing. We have often lost our distinctiveness. The Christian must constantly bear witness to the fact that he has the power of God in his own life. . . .

We often block the effectiveness of that power by our own will and influence. We will not let the power take over in our own lives. We want the power of God and we want to have our own way, too. Thus we are able to negate the whole influence of that power. It must be active and therefore exerting its full power with effect in our own lives and in the life of the world.