The Choice of Manhood

“By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to bt called the son of Pharaoh ’s daughter; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” — Heb. xi. 24, 26.

The reproach of Christ! how could that be a motive to Moses? Did Moses know anything about Christ? Perhaps not, but he was bearing His reproach. He was passing through in anticipation that very choice of alternatives whose decision constituted the reproach of his Lord. What was the reproach of Christ? It was His preference of the internal to the external. He stood on the mount of temptation, and into each hand was put a separate cup — into the one a cup of worldly glory, into the other a cup of spiritual sacrifice. He chose the latter, and that was His reproach; He preferred the service of His Father to the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Even so did Moses by the power of the selfsame spirit; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he chose rather to go down into the valleys to suffer affliction with the people of God. Unconsciously to himself he was in communion with the life divinely human, in sympathy with the spirit of Him who preferred the cross to the risible crown; he was bearing the reproach of Jesus.

My soul, there is a time when thou too art called to stand upon the mountain’s brow. There is a time when to thee, as to Moses, there comes a choice of alternatives, when the treasures of Egypt lie on the one hand and the life of sacrifice besets thee on the other. It is the crisis-hour of all thy life — the hour in which thou hast finished the ascending course of youth, and hast reached at its summit the tableland of manhood. What shall that manhood be I on thy decision of this choice the answer must depend. Shall it be a manhood of visible glitter and empty show, of outward pomp and selfish ambition, of Judaic pride and Messianic majesty? or shall it be a manhood of human care and individual sympathy, of heartfelt responsibility and sacrificial love, of earnest devotion and Christ-like stooping? This is the latest choice of thy youth, 0 my soul. Son of Man, help me to choose with Thee. Help me to refuse the gold and take the cross. Help me to go down with Thee into the valley of humiliation. Help me to join the band of human sufferers who have never seen the glory of the mountain’s brow. Let the sense of a common reproach unite my heart to Thine; so shall my cross be greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt.