Colossians ii, 5. “For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.”

“Steadfastness of Faith in Christ.” Saint Paul had a good many things in his picturesque and eventful life to cause him profound pain and sorrow. But his experience was the experience of men generally, that there were compensating things which came in and modified his pain and sorrow, and made life far from the hard and drab thing it might seem to be if only the pain and sorrow were taken into the reckoning.

The fact of the matter is that there is no life so hard and bitter and disappointing that does not have its compensations. I am quite well aware that there are any number of those who will rise up and dispute that. Their life has been so bitter that, as they look back upon it, they can not see any compensations for all that they have suffered. I do not say that always the joys will balance the sorrows, the realisations equal the expectations, the convalescence atone for the illness, but I do say that every life has its compensations. The only thing is that we should see them, see them through the mist of tears, which rises from the lowlands of our pain and sorrow.

The trouble with so many of us is that we think only of the hard, dark things, the unpleasant things, the little irritations, of life. And God knows I would not make light of those, for in too many lives they are very real and very heavy, but they are not the whole of one’s life. And yet if we allow ourselves to think only of those we shall soon come to feel that they are the whole of our life. I do not care how bitter a life may be, it has its moments, they may be brief, when the sun shines, and things come to us which will be precious memories while life shall last. It is a good thing for us to train ourselves to see the bright spots in life, to look hard enough at the places where they should be until they begin to glow. They may not dazzle us with their brilliance, but it is a great thing to know that they are, even though they may be dull.

Well now all this has been suggested by the experience of St. Paul as mentioned in the text. As I said, he had many things in his full and varied life to cause him pain and sorrow; and yet. he had his compensations. And here in his letter to his Colossian friends he is telling them what one-of his compensations was, so far as they were concerned. He was absent from them, that was a real source of grief to him, absent in flesh, yes, but present in spirit, and he” had confidence enough in them to know that they were carrying on as though he were present in the flesh. His compensation then was the joy which he felt, as in spirit he beheld their order, and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ.

Both those words “order” and “steadfastness” are military words, Light-foot renders them “orderly array” and “solid front” respectively, and says that “the enforced companionship of St. Paul with the soldiers, of the Praetorian Guard at this time might have suggested this image. At all events in the contemporary Epistle, Ephesians, we have an elaborate metaphor from the armour of a soldier.” Saint Paul saw enough of soldier life on all sides to find there a fruitful source of metaphors.

One of St. Paul’s great compensations, then, so far as his Colossian friends were, concerned was the fact that in spirit he beheld them, as if in actual view, carrying on in an orderly and disciplined manner. Of course that vision of them was the result of what he heard about them. He would get reports, and they would gladden his heart. He would see the sunnier side because it was ever his loving wish to see that side. I do not doubt but that the Colossians were disappointing in many ways, but they were showing themselves loyal to the faith which he had taught them, and that would be a joy to him, and in it he would find compensations, for whatever disappointments he might experience.

“Steadfastness of Faith in Christ.” I shall have a little something to say before I am through about those words “faith in Christ,” but my principal thought is contained in the word— “steadfastness.” I seem to see in that word the suggestion of a thought which may well be uppermost in our minds at the moment. The world is in an upset and unsettled condition. The churches, reflecting that same condition, are displaying unrest and uncertainty. Upon everything there is a, tinge of cynicism. We are striving bravely to lift ourselves out of the bog which is sucking us down. We seem to be resisting at times the downward pull, even making progress against it, and then the selfishness of men asserts itself, and progress upward is stayed. As1 yet too many lack the vision to see that the old order is changing, that a new order is appearing on the scene.

And why shouldn’t the old order give place to the new, if so be that the new is better? That you may say has yet to be proven. Yes, but proof comes by trial. Many have long felt, as they took counsel of their finer and deeper reasoning, that social and economic and political conditions must undergo a radical change to prevent us from rushing into disaster. There is no doubt about it but that we shall have to revise some of our old ideas. We shall have to give more thought to the things in life which are permanent, and that -means more thought to the moral and spiritual forces, which can revolutionise life in the right way. That life has to be revolutionised I have not the least doubt. The only thing is, and the great thing is, who is going to do it, and how is it going to be done. That is the vital thing.

Well, that we have in our own hands if we do not wait too long, if we do not wait until the momentum towards catastrophe has gained a speed ‘that will not, ,that can not, respond to the brakes. I am not as much of a pessimist as many with whom I talk seem to be. If we sit down and wring our hands in an agony of despair, sighing for a return of conditions which have been rather violently disturbed of late, we shall grow pessimistic. But who, in heaven’s name, wants a return of those conditions,, except those who unholily profited by them?

The fact of the matter is that nothing is safe and secure that is not founded on right. The house that is built on the sand may go up rapidly, and be to the eye an architectural delight, and fill the owner thereof with pride, but when the storm comes, what then? The parable tells us. “And
great was the fall thereof.”

And great has been the fall thereof of many a man who has stood high in the esteem of his fellow-men, who has been admired for his great business acumen, who has possessed the confidence of his associates, and when the storm -shook down the structure, and inquisitive investigators began to dig among the ruins, then was laid-bare the secret of the weakness. The foundation and the superstructure lacked those elements which made for strength and permanence. The only concern was for the material advantage and advance, and the moral and spiritual aspect of the matter altogether disregarded.

But my thought is that suggested by the word “steadfastness,” a thought, which, in these days, may well receive our consideration. In our economic and social life a good deal has happened in recent days to make us unsteady, to fill our minds with doubt and distrust, to give us a case of nerves, to cause us to wonder just whither we are going. That we are on our way there can be no doubt, but just when and where we shall arrive is a matter of considerable doubt.

However, the port of call depends entirely upon us. I use that term “port of call” deliberately, because it is a mistake to think of any destination to which we may come as the end, as the place where we may stop. All life is progressive, progressive in all its departments. We can’t say, as we arrive at any given point, that is, we can’t if we are true to our God-given responsibilities, we can’t say, “Here we are and here we stay.” Always there is a port on beyond. Always we must be seeking something better. That is life.

Now I am inclined to think that we have not sufficiently taken into consideration this element of progressiveness in our economic, and social, and political affairs, and I see no reason why I should exempt religious affairs”; indeed, there is every reason why they should be included. We have been, perhaps, too static—I am using that term as it relates to a body at rest, and not to the splutterings of a radio. We have been too well satisfied, perhaps, to stand where we are. You may say, “But is not that steadfastness?” It is not what I am thinking about. I am not interested in the thought of standing still at the post. Rather, I am thinking about the steadfastness, the consistency, the uniformity, the persistency of our running.

And that is the thought that is in my mind, as we are considering all that.is going on now. In the multitude of things that are happening, in the multitude of new things, we want to keep steady, and not lose, our equilibrium, our sense of proportion, our faith in the ultimate power of all things to right themselves. Take this matter of political conditions throughout the world, it is quite possible and rather easy to get into a state of excitement if we follow the headlines, which, if I were a czar, I would abolish, and save ink and paper and human nerves, at least I would have them fit what follows.

It is true that conditions are delicate, tender as the sore that has barely healed, and because they are it behooves everyone, whether he thinks his influence is great, or small, or nothing, to go carefully on his way, and do nothing and say nothing, which, even in the slightest degree, can lead to trouble. I believe that right here is where our steadfastness and constancy must assert themselves, that we must be hopelessly optimistic, if you please. I can’t quite believe that anyone has completely lost his head yet. I am not willing to believe even that he has so far mislaid it that he is having difficulty in finding it. War is the colossal crime of the ages. The world never appreciated that fact more than it does now, when it is still pathetically wallowing in the aftermath of the great catastrophe which nearly wrecked it.

World conditions are tender and sensitive, but there must be a sane way to their solution. I know of nothing better that you and I can do than to keep our poise, and to hold steadfastly to the way that leads to the highest and the best. Personally, I dislike to hear so much talk of the coming of war in the near future. That simply means that we are creating the war spirit. Instead, let us talk of the coming of peace, and of its continuance. Not quite as exciting, no, but much more godly.