The Literary Churchman 2 Corinthians 6:1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. In the Eastern country, as I dare say you have heard, there are great deserts of sand. For many miles in every direction, you can see nothing but bare and barren sand. You might dig down and down, and you would still find nothing but sand until you came to the hard rock. Nothing grows in these deserts, as you may imagine; nothing can grow there. When the rain which brings greenness and fertility, grass and corn and palm trees, everywhere else, falls on this barren, sandy tract, it does no good at all. It just sinks in for a time until the surface is baked again by the hot sun, and then it rises up again in vapour. Anywhere else it would clothe the soil with greenness; but here it is useless — it does no good. Now what a picture this is of the heart that receives and does not obey God's grace I As the rain would render the soil fertile with grass and corn, so God's grace would inspire the heart of man with good thoughts and good actions. As the raindrops, when they fall upon the sand, are wasted and made useless, so the divine grace, the pleadings of the Blessed Spirit, falling upon a heart that obstinately neglects them, or refuses them, or resists them, not only bring forth no fruit, but lay up for the impenitent sinner a heavy load of guilt and of punishment. (The Literary Churchman.) Parallel Verses KJV: We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.WEB: Working together, we entreat also that you not receive the grace of God in vain, |
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