Verse 12
I. The phrase is very simple. Behind the duty of being anything lies the deeper duty of knowing how to be that thing in the best way and to the best result. No man has a right to be anything unless he is conscious that he knows how to be it, not with a perfect knowledge for that can come only by the active exercise of being the thing itself but at least no man has a right to be anything unless he carries already in his heart such a sense of the magnitude and the capacity of his occupation as makes him teachable by experience for all that his occupation has to make known to him. This is the law which Paul suggests with regard to abundance. Wealth is a condition, a vocation, he declares. A man may have the condition and not have, not even seek to have, the knowledge of how to live in that condition. Go to, ye rich men, and learn how a rich man ought to live.
II. Is it possible for us to put our finger on this mysterious knowledge of St. Paul, and say exactly what it was? I think we can. It must have been a Christian knowledge. Imagine that to his meagre life there had been brought the sudden prospect of abundance. "Tomorrow, Paul, a new world is to be opened to you. You shall be rich; you shall have hosts of friends; all your struggles shall be over; you shall live in peace. Are you ready for this new life? Can your feet walk strong and sure and steady in this new land, so different from any land where they have ever walked before?" What will Paul's answer be? "Yes. I have Christ; I know my soul is in Him. I am His servant; nothing can make me leave Him. With the power of that consecration, I can rob abundance of its dangers, and make it the servant of Him and of my soul. I shall not be its slave; it shall be mine. I will walk at liberty because I keep His commandments." The power by which Paul could confidently expect to rob abundance of its dangers and to call out all its help was the knowledge of the true perfection of a human soul in serving Christ.
III. In each of the several departments of our life it is not enough that a man shall have attained abundance: he must also know how to abound in riches, in learning, in friendships, in spiritual privilege; there is a deeper knowledge which alone can fasten the treasure which he has won, and make it truly his, and draw out its best use. What a great principle that is! Under that principle a man may even be the master of the heart and soul of some possessions whose form he does not own. I know that Jesus, the poor Man who walked through rich Jerusalem and had not where to lay His head, had still the key to all that wealth. We cannot attain to all abundance in this one short life; but if we can come to God and be His servants, the knowledge of how to be things which we shall never be may enter into us. In poverty we may have the blessing of riches, in enforced ignorance the blessing of knowledge, in loneliness the blessing of friendship, and in suspense and doubt the blessing of peace and rest.
Phillips Brooks, The Light of the World, p. 157.
Reference: Philippians 4:12 . Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 41.
Be the first to react on this!
