Amerikai Magyar Reformátusok Lapja, 1931 (32. évfolyam, 33-48. szám)

1931-09-12 / 37. szám

AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

7

AZ IFJÚSÁG KÖRÉBŐL.

KOVÁCS PÉTER

a magyarországi Keresztyén Ifjúsági Egyesület (YMCA) országos földműves titkára. Sokat irtunk már róla — most bemutatjuk őt olvasóinknak. Azért jött, hogy gazdagodjon ismeretben s gazdagítson hitben. Fogadjátok nagy szeretettel! Megérdemli!

LIVING FOR JESUS.

It was quiet on the Sea of Galilee in the morning when Jesus walked that way and saw two boats standing by the lake, and the fishermen washing and mending their nets. All the night they had taken nothing, but that day was to make up for the failure. To this point the story is commonplace, but the end of it is of interest to all the world.

He bade them put out a little from the shore; and

when He had taught the people from one of the boats, He directed the fishermen to launch out into the deep, and to let down their mended nets. It was against their experience, but they obeyed because He said it. This is Christian obedience in a very simple form — the doing of Christ’s word

what otherwise would not be done. They filled their nets until the strain was too heavy upon them. After they had come to the shore, He bade them leave their boats and follow Him: to be made fishers of men. This also they did because He said it, and

we who hear of this today are of the fish they

caught.

There are three parts in this story which is three time given to us in the Gospels. The mending was necessary, because, if the nets had caught no

fish, they had been torn themselves. Why not leave the nets so, a witness to the work of the night?

This might be better than mending them. The torn battle-flag is of much greater worth than if it were mended for its signs of brave work upon the field. One thing justified the mending, that the nets were

to be used again: that failure had not brought discouragement. In deep waters and under a new command, succes might wait upon enterprise. It reads li'ke a parable of life, for we come often to the

mending time. Our bodies and our nerves need to be renewed with strength. It is strange that a harp

of a thousand strings should keep in tunc so long. Our plans need mending, and our purposes, and our desires. Our habits need to be examined and mended. Our courage and hope and ambition need to be reinforced. We have to make over our companionships, and often our friendships must be restored. Life mlust be adjusted to new conditions by mended methods; hearts that have “grown weary with dragging the crosses too heavy for mortals to bear” mlust have rest that they miay recover strength.

Young People, this is just what we have been

doing this summer. We were mending our nets. We

renewed the strength of our bodies with vacations and energy-producing exercises. At the Cleveland C. E. conference we tried to mend our plans, our purposes, and desires. Through guidance of Christ and the inspiration of each other, our courage and hopes and ambitions were reinforced. Our nets are mended now. It matters not that they were torn, for we have gained something in experience and new skill, and we have the future before us.

When our life has been mended, we must not

simply repeat the past, but we must go on to better things. Launch out into the deep, as Christ said, and there let down our nets. The past year should

have brought us closer to Christ; it should have

shone us something more of His power. Now let us leave the shallow waters of selfishness, jealousies,

irresponsibility and the play things, and let us obey Christ’s commandment: “Launch out into the deep”, for we know that every well whose waters are pure

and unfailing is deep, and the work of Him who comes down to our boat is to give us something

that we can draw with, however far below us the

waters wait. Can we hear His voice calling? “Come, follow me!” It is not a call to follow blindly. Christ has prepared a program for our life. All we need

to do is to follow it through to the end. Christ’s “Follow me” gives a deep purpose to our lives, and we need not drift any more. We might take

for our motto then the guiding words of Paul’s life: “To me to live is Christ!”

Christian Endeavor embodies this program: It tells me how to live Christ in school, in the factory, in the office, in the homle. It gives me definite rules for keeping and making life-long friendships. Christian Endeavor prepares us to “Carry On’” after