February 11
Christianity on the “go”
“Go out quickly into the streets and lanes” (Luke 14:21).
“Go into the highways” (Matt. 22:9).
“Go into the village” (Matt. 21:2
“Go into the city” (Matt. 26:18).
“Go ye and teach all nations” (Matt. 28:19).
“Go ye into all the world” (Mark 16:15).
Florence Nightingale went from her beautiful home to the bedside of dying soldiers.
Billy Bray, the miner, went into the villages around about and taught Christ and witnessed for “his Father.”
Elizabeth Fry, although a mother, went into the prisons.
Robert Raikes went through the streets and gathered up the ragged children.
Whenever Christianity has flourished ordinary people have “gone” across the backyard to a neighbor; the factory worker has witnessed at the bench of a work-mate; the office girl has crossed the room to speak at another desk; and the student has taken the message to the classroom and campus.
Christianity at its best, is religion on the march. It is a mobile thing, an adventure, an experience that thrives best on the highway, not in the closet. Wesley felt his heart warmed at Aldersgate. He left that prayer-meeting to leap into the saddle. Thus the Methodist Church was born. He found his faith more virile on the highway than in the cloister.