[Rev. James Reid, M. A., in the British Weekly, London, England]

Many a so-called friendship breaks down because on the part of one there is a subtle desire to dominate.... What we call love may be corrupted by this desire of power, and our affection for the other may become only the satisfaction of unconscious pride. Because of this, strain often breaks out between parents and children. We may seek to dominate our children, to coerce them. We try to make them into the image of ourselves, or more often of what we have not been able to be. "What she called love," says a writer of the mother in one of his books, "was only her enjoyment of her son's leaning on her." He was slave, not friend. Is not this distinction also the key to the age-long conflict between masters and men? Peace will never really come into industry till this demand for a real partnership ... is understood. It will come when we learn to say, in effect, to those who work for us, whether in the home or elsewhere, "Henceforth I call you not slaves, but friends."

This was Jesus Christ's attitude to his disciples. He could have commanded them, dominated them, bidden them believe this or that without question. Why did he not create a creed and save all the religious conflicts of Christendom? He could have dictated their every action, and they would have obeyed him. It would have been easier for both of them. Most of us have something in us which longs for this kind of control. But it was not his way. When people wanted explicit guidance, he would throw them back on the voice within: "What do you think yourself?" There are no rules in the teaching of Jesus except the command to love. And that cannot be obeyed till we have the spirit of love, and through that spirit can discern the way of love.

What he did was to admit people to his friendship. He gave himself to them, sharing with them his thoughts about life and money and God—but only as they were willing to trust him fully and to learn. He never sought to dictate or coerce. What agony it must sometimes have cost him! Think of his letting Judas go without one strong, commanding appeal that might have brought him to his knees! But he refused to dominate,... to exercise the power of fear or any other enslaving thing.

Yet his friendship had in it, and still has, a far surer power. Through his love, truth became clear. The way of right became obvious. Conscience was quickened. The whole world of goodness and love became alive through him. And in the obedience that followed they were free, because they were taking the road of their soul's true desire. Life became a glad companionship in which they walked with him, not a kind of bondage where they unwillingly followed. They were not slaves, but friends.

[Rev. Francis C. Ellis, as quoted in the Daily Press, Riverside, California]

I suspect that Paul had in mind the Olympic Games when he wrote,... "So run, that ye may attain." As you may know, the Olympic Games were founded in 776 B.C., in the days before Micah and Isaiah uttered their dramatic prophecies....

God calls all of us to engage in this great Christian Olympic. In that Olympic we are to wage a contest for nobler ideals, a keener sense of brotherhood, a higher resolve to make Christ's way the way of all mankind.

"So run, that ye may attain"! So engage in the contest that the kingdom may become a reality. So take your part that Christ may be honored. We are to lay aside the things that would hinder us as we run. The wise athlete will not wish to be encumbered. Neither will the wise Christian. We will put by those habits that impede us. We will cast aside selfishness and false pride.

We will remember, too, that we not for the honor of ourselves, but for the honor of our country. That British Code of Sportsmanship sets for us a fine standard: "A sportsman plays the game for the game's sake. He plays for his side, and not for himself. He is a good winner, and a good loser; modest in victory, and generous in defeat."

The good runner is prepared to obey the rules of the game. He will not foul, because he would be ashamed to be disqualified. And the rules of the Christian Olympic are to be likewise regarded. It is pretty generally true that when we break the Great Commandments we ourselves are broken.

The Christian Olympic does not call us easy things. Some duties of the Christian life call for almost more of selfcontrol, patience, courage, and moral strength than we possess. Again and again we shall need to wait on the Lord, that He may strengthen our hearts. . . .

He who enters the Christian Olympic examines the course laid out before him, just as the careful runner examines the lane in which he is to run. It is Christ who lays down for us the course which we are to run in the Great Olympic. It is the wisest, safest course ever laid out for man. Following it, we arrive at the greatest joys and the deepest satisfactions to be found anywhere. Increasing the world finds that Jesus is its hope and its peace.

The wise runner in the Christian Olympic knows his goal, just as the runner on the track will ask where the finishing tape is. And in both cases, the runner will so gauge his strength and measure his stride that he may reach that goal. . . .

Jesus tells us how to run in this great Olympic without throwing our talents and abilities away. He shows us what things to live for, and then points us to the power that achieves them. It is not so much that we need to be saved to some future life; we need to be saved the life that is here and how. . . .

What of the prize? Do not worry about the prize. The great Prizegiver will make His awards in His own good time. Think not so much of what you get out of the great Olympic, but what you will put into it.

[From Great Thoughts, London, England]

This first step of honesty in the formation of a happy disposition frees us from all sorts of romantic illusions, lies, and cherished, bitter prejudices. Why should we think to be happy when we go on humbugging ourselves with these false dreams and follies and dislikes? Even if we seem to look . . . upon a world that seems unbearable, it becomes us to have courage, to keep a stiff upper lip, to go forward with a resolute will; above all, to make sure that our misfortunes cast no needless shadows upon other lives.

I do not know whether there has grown among your own ambitions that desire of being found a benefactor of the world which some of the stronger men have known. But if the name means anything to you, the poorest and the least endowed of us can reach that great ambition, if in no other way, by the assiduous cultivation of this happy disposition of which I speak. For I come back to my assertion that he who is pleasant to live with, whose happy disposition, inborn or acquired, brings gleams of sunshine with it wherever it may go, is one of the benefactors of the world. . . .

Man is stronger than his troubles when God is at his side. "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."

How shall that man not grow into a happy disposition who walks with God and has growing confidence that God has a purpose his life? That leaves no room for listlessness. It countervails all fears. It puts an end to all complainings. If one can really say, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou my lot," it ought not to be difficult to add, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places."

[Professor Nathaniel Schmidt, as quoted in the Journal-News, Ithaca, New York]

Look over this great line of prophets. . . . Watch their sincerity, their genuineness, their unselfishness, their fearlessness, their courage, their insight. Say, if you please, that they are the children of their own age; that we cannot cast our thoughts today in the molds that they used, that they were imperfect as personalities, that they predicted things that were not fulfilled. Say all of that, but do not remain indifferent to them. . . . Your children's children will build their monuments. Ostracize them, deal with them when you find them in your own day as they dealt with in theirs. But go home and open your Bibles and read the strring words of these prophets, and seek to live yourself into their lives, think their thoughts after them, and feel the breath of their spirit, the contagion of their inspiration. Then you will, with gratitude, I think, and in deep humility, confess that we would not be today where we are if they had not been.

[Editorial in the Morning Press, Santa Barbara, California]

Many very earnest and devout people feel that . . . spiritual birth can only come to one when passes from the life in this world to the hereafter. But men are coming to see that this change is not one of location but of quality of life. It is not where you are but what you are that determines whether you are living under the law of the flesh or under the law of the Spirit. If you believe the Bible, you should be satisfied that even though you have heretofore lived under the law of the flesh, you can, if you help to make the conditions right for it, be brought to live under the law of the Spirit while you are in this world. For in the Book you read that not only was Jesus living under the law of the Spirit, but Peter and James and John and the other disciples who came into the world as carnal men, as we did, were born of the Spirit and manifested the fruits of the Spirit in the works they did. Even Paul, who, according to his own standpoint, was among the chief of those who persecuted Jesus and his teaching, came possessed the leading exemplar of the power and the holiness possessed by those who are born of the Spirit. . . .

The spiritual birth is a much more exalted experience than the natural man realizes, and when it comes to one, all the glory and power of the life divine are open to him. But we should realize that after this birth comes to one he must grow in the Spirit. The possibilities of this growth are infinite.

[From the Reporter and Chronicle, Two Rivers, Wisconsin]

Only by the degree to which you prove yourself true to the modest task of today can you fit yourself for, or inspire others to intrust you with, greater duties tomorrow.