Psalms 90:3

Psalms 90:3

Two of the greatest lessons which Christ came to teach us were the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Look at man in himself, look at man as he makes himself by yielding to and aiding in the fraud and malice of the devil, and hardly any language can be too bitter to describe his baseness and his degradation. But look at man in the light of revelation; look at him under the triple, overarching rainbow of faith, hope, and love; look at him ransomed and ennobled into filial relationship with God, and you will see at once where men have learnt their high faith in their own being and the dignity of God's image upon them, and who it is that has taught them to speak in such noble accents about themselves. To lose faith in man is to lose faith in God, who made him; to lose faith in man's nature is to lose faith in your own. Notice some rules by which we may hold fast our faith in all human nature, and so help, it may be, to ameliorate the race.

I. Let us believe, or try to believe, that there is a good side in every man.

II. Let us sometimes turn away altogether from the thoughts of bad men to the galaxy of heavens wherein shine the clustered constellations of saintly lives. Read the lives and actions of these children of light.

III. Above all, as the best of all rules, think constantly of Christ, and fix your eye on Him. The only measure of a perfect man is the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

IV. The most sure way to justify our faith and hope in human nature is to justify it in ourselves. We can do this; we can do all things through Christ, that strengthens us.

F. W. Farrar, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxii., p. 321.

References: Psalms 90:3; Psalms 90:4. Archbishop Thomson, Lincoln's Inn Sermons,p. 1.Psalms 90:4. A. Mursell, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxiii., p. 11.