Matthew 26:53 Think you that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? When a man who might be rich deliberately gives up the chance of wealth that he may be a scholar, men whose object in life is wealth, and who know that he has the same power to get wealth which they have if he should give himself to its pursuit, must honour him and feel the influence of his renunciation. It is not laziness, for he goes to work harder than any of them. It is not asceticism, for he has no foolish sweeping abuse of wealth with which to insult his fellow-men's intelligence, It is not incapacity, for he is as bright as the brightest. It is simply the power of a higher purpose. It is the calm, manly, uncomplaining choice to do this greater thing, and to surrender whatever would hinder the doing of it most faithfully and well. The man goes off into his study, and thinks that nobody sees him — indeed, does not think for a moment whether anybody is seeing him or not; but his life and such lives as his are the salt of the society in which they live. (P. Brooks, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? |
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