Christianity Not Asceticism

tl But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have, fellowship one with another” — 1 John i. 7.

“If we walk in the light we have fellowship.” What a difference between the Divine and the human view of religion! Most of us are saying within our hearts, “If we walk in the light, we ought to have no fellowship.” I once thought that religion meant withdrawal from the haunts of men. I thought that it signified separation, isolation, asceticism, penance, joylessness; I thought that the light manifested itself by darkness. God says, on the contrary, that life never becomes social until His light has come. It is the want of His light that prevents me from having fellowship, that debars me from enjoying companionship. As long as my heart is dark I will not reveal it to my brother-man; as long as his heart is dark he will not reveal it to me. And so we are both alone. Our solitude is the fruit of our darkness; if the light would come we would have fellowship. All light pants to reveal itself. Who ever sought fellowship like Him — the light and life of men? To whom did He not outpour Himself? to whom did He not reveal Himself? What sphere of human history did He not strive to make His own? Pharisee and publican, Jew and Gentile, rich and destitute, learned and ignorant — He met them all. He touched those spheres of worldliness which the world itself could not touch without increased defilement. He was the light, and therefore He could touch the darkness. 0 light that lightest every man, come into this heart of mine that in Thy radiance I may have Thy power of fellowship. I am weary of my own narrowness, I am tired of my own isolation; I long to be able like Thee to break through the limits that debar me from the life of my brother. I long to be able like Thee to touch impurity without stain, to shine in darkness without receiving its shadow. I long like Thee to sympathise with thtfihich is beneath me, to love that which is unlike me, to commune with that wThich has no voice for me. Only in Thee shall that power be mine, therefore I wait for Thy coming. When Thou shalt touch me with Thy presence, I too shall touch all things. I shall pass uncorrupted into the scenes of this great world. I shall mingle in its pursuits and they shall not hurt me, I shall join in its pleasures and they will not harm me, I shall study its aims and they will not lower my heavenly aspiration, I shall meet with its prodigal children and my garments shall be undefiled; all fellowship shall be mine when I walk in Thy light.