| The Best Things in Life |
Chapter 3 |
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We are tested in many ways. We are tested by temptations. Every one must be tempted. Untested strength is not trustworthy. An old chronicle tells of a company of men going into battle with swords which bent double at the first assault. They had not been tried, and the steel was untempered. Before men can be entrusted with sacred interest and responsibilities they must be tried. Not till we have been proved are we ready for service.
We are tested by our duties. We do not begin to realize how much depends upon our faithfulness in the common days. To fail in our testing is to come unready to great crises. We say God does his own work in the world. Yes, but not without us. Our faithfulness is essential to the carrying out of the divine purposes. There is a story of a blacksmith who was busy in his shop near the French and German border one snowy night just before Christmas. He was very weary, for he had toiled all the day long. He was standing by his forge, looking wistfully toward his humble cottage where the lights were shining, and where his children were awaiting his homecoming. He was at his last piece of work – a rivet which it required much care to shape properly. This rivet was to hold together the metal work of a bridge that was to span the river near his forge. The rivet was the key to the whole bridge. The blacksmith, in his weariness, was sorely tempted to hurry, and to skimp his work. It was only a little rivet, and was so troublesome to make – why should he stay to do it carefully? But his good angel bade him to do his best. So he put away the temptation, and rested not until his work was perfectly done.
Some years later war broke out. A squadron of the blacksmith’s countrymen was driven over the bridge in headlong flight. The bridge trembled under the weight. All depended on the little rivet – was it secure enough to stand the strain? Only the blacksmith’s work that night stood between the men and destruction. The rivet stood the test – the blacksmith and his work were approved.
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