Sanctified Individuality

One of the greatest strains Satan gets souls under, when first they get saved or sanctified, is straining to imitate or to be like some one else. Of course there is a sense in which we are to pattern after good men, but it is not to be done in such a way as to depress and imbondage the soul. God did not make us all alike. He only made one of a kind, throughout the entire universe; hence if we ape the other brother or sister there will be too many of a kind.

The writer once read a story, in a juvenile storybook, of a hen and her little chicks who were out for a stroll on a green lawn that skirted the pond. In the meantime a duck and her little ducklings were sporting in the pond. One of the old hen's chicks became envious of the nice time the little ducklings were having; so he asked his mother if he might join them in their sport in the water. His mother gently said to him (in substance) : "Son, you were not made to swim but were made to travel on land. Your feet are not the kind required to swim." The little chick, not being satisfied with his mother's decision, finally gave her the dodge and went to join the ducks in the pond. The reader of course knows the outcome.

There are hundreds of Christians just like this little chicken. They are trying to be the other fellow, and the results are they are making a great failure.

It will wonderfully set us aright on this point if we will carefully study and compare the lives of the most prominent Bible characters. They were all good men, and were mightily used of God; yet there were no two of them exactly alike. Let us notice a few of them and briefly paraphrase their sanctified individuality.

We will begin with Moses. You will notice, in studying the life of Moses, that notwithstanding his being the meekest man upon earth at that time, yet his most prominent characteristic was legality. From all outside appearances, there did not seem to be much love, joy, or mercy in his make-up. (However, he no doubt possessed these graces.) Law, law, law, was prominent from every viewpoint. I suppose we are well aware of the fact that all the Moseses are not dead, especially when we sit and listen to some sermons that don't seem to have one drop of love or mercy in them. However, we need just such preaching, and it has a very prominent place on the gospel bill of fare. Yet we do not want it for every meal.

The next character we will notice is Samuel. Here we find a man altogether different from Moses. Samuel was a gentle, easy-going, entreating man. There was nothing about him that was blustery or denunciatory, but he lived where he could continually hear from God.

The third character we wish to mention is Elijah the Tishbite. Here we have a man with a disposition and make-up quite different from either of the before-mentioned characters. Let us more narrowly observe him. He was a lofty, sublime, storming, stirring, sensational kind of a man. He swept through the country like a cyclone, striking terror to both saint and sinner everywhere he went. Let us notice his brief, seraphic career. The Bible does not give an account of his boyhood days, or the names of his parents, or his prophetic calling, or anything. He breaks in upon the world as if he dropped from heaven. The first we read of him is in the 17th chapter of 1 Kings. The chapter begins as follows (without giving him any especial introduction) : "And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, BUT ACCORDING TO MY WORD.' Next we find him at Zarephath, praying the widow's son back to life. After this we see him on Mt. Carmel, surrounded with four hundred and fifty of the prophets of Baal and thousands of people, while he pulled torrents of fire from heaven with his prayers. Next we find him on the top of a hill, pulling showers of fire from heaven upon those who hated the God he served. Again we find him bowed on the mountain, unlocking heaven and pulling down rain. Next we find him smiting the waters of Jordan with his mantle and going across on dry ground. And last of all we see him sweeping up to heaven in a chariot of fire! O, what a lofty, sublime, seraphic life! And yet, it would not do for every one of God's children to be an Elijah, or there would be no one to stay on earth and watch the stuff. 

The next Bible character that comes up for inspection is the prophet Elisha. He is a God-blessed and God-sent man, but quite a bit different from Elijah. Where Elijah was a man of solitude and seclusion, only coming among the people when on a divine errand, here we find Elisha an open, easy to approach, sociable man. And yet he wrought more miracles than Elijah. We find congregations sometimes who tenaciously cling to a certain preacher, thinking no one else can fill his place; and if they are compelled to accept a new one they think he must be and do just like the former one. But this is not God's method. God (so to speak) takes away the candlelight to give us the lamplight; takes away the lamplight to give us the gaslight; and removes that to give us the electric light.

The fifth Bible character we wish to notice is David. Here we find a man who appears to be on the mount of ecstasy all the time. It is "Praise the Lord! Bless the Lord! Thank the Lord! O, magnify the Lord!" etc., all the time. Hence he would be quite a trial to a long-faced, firm, rigid legalistic like Moses. But yet this man has a place in the catalogue of Christian experience.

Our next character is Jeremiah. Here we have a man who is continually pressed down with the burden of souls. He is crying, sighing, and groaning nearly all the time. He says, "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people !" (Jer. 9: 1). If Jeremiah was like some of our modern holiness folks, David, with his "Praise the Lord" all the time, would be quite a trial to him; while, on the other hand, David would not believe Jeremiah had the experience of holiness at all, simply because he did not praise the Lord and jump and shout all the time. It would be well if we, as holiness people, would bear this thought in mind.

Our seventh character is Ezekiel. Where Moses was a legalistic, Samuel a holy, calm, praying man, Elijah a seraphic flame of fire, Elisha a social-circle soul-winner, David the man of praise and ecstasy, Jeremiah the intercessor and burden-bearer, here we find Ezekiel the visionary man. Some people do not believe in visions, while, on the other hand, some are tempted and tried with God because He has given others great visions but has never given them any. John Wesley said, "In the earlier part of my Christian experience I thought that the Christian who got the most visions and revelations had the greatest faith, but later I found that he had the least faith, hence God had to give him an occasional vision to keep him from failing utterly." Therefore let us neither envy or doubt the brother who seems visionary, but leave him with his God.

This same thought holds good in the New Testament. John was a man whose theme was "Love, love, love." Paul's theme was, "Faith, faith, faith." Peter's theme was, "Hope, hope, hope." While James' theme was "Works, works, works."

O, may the Lord give us enough charity and common sense to be contented to be ourselves in God, and let the other fellow alone.