160
Christ’s Object Lessons
wall so high or gate so strong as to shut out the messengers of doom.
Belshazzar the king “feasted in his palace,” and “praised the gods of
gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.” But the
hand of One invisible wrote upon his walls the words of doom, and
the tread of hostile armies was heard at his palace gates. “In that night
was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain,” and an alien monarch
sat upon the throne. (
Daniel 5:30
).
To live for self is to perish. Covetousness, the desire of benefit for
self’s sake, cuts the soul off from life. It is the spirit of Satan to get,
to draw to self. It is the spirit of Christ to give, to sacrifice self for
the good of others. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life;
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”
1 John 5:11, 12
.
Wherefore He says, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for
a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he
possesseth.”
[260]