The Christian Outlook & Inlook - A Tender Heart

Extract

The Christian Outlook, The Christian Inlook and A Tender Heart
A. W. Pink

The Christian Outlook

The outlook of the natural man is bounded by the things of time and sense. Necessarily so: Being alienated from God and devoid of spiritual life, his interests are narrowed to this sphere, and where his treasure is, there will his heart be also. To “succeed” in this life, to obtain for himself a position of power and prestige in this perishing world, is as far as his ambitions go. To eat, drink, and be merry is the highest ideal of the vast majority of our fellows. Being of the world―as well as in it―the portion of the unregenerate is confined thereto. If his immediate portion be a disappointing one, he lives in hope of improving the same. And what is true of each of its units holds good of the whole: The world may not yet be the paradise they long for, yet they indulge in the wishful thinking that ere long a Golden Age will dawn.

There is much speculation and theorizing upon what is needed to usher in that Golden Age. Many have held that the only thing which obstructed it was some particular form of government, under which they lived: A government which confined the good things of this life to the privileged classes and withheld them from the labouring masses. In support of that theory, force has often been employed, ancient monarchies being overthrown, and republics taking their place. Every form of government that human wit could devise has been tried out: Absolute monarchy, limited monarchy, aristocratic rule, republicanism, democracy, communism―only to find that human nature remained unchanged and discontented as ever. More recently, it was said that Utopian conditions would eventually be reached by a natural process of evolution―that as civilization advanced, things would automatically improve. But such a chimera has been rudely shattered by the world tragedies of our own lifetime.

Others have pinned their faith to what is generally thought of as somewhat vaguely called “Religion.” Its leaders and advocates have felt that the world is suffering from something more serious and radical than surface disorders, and therefore, that the remedy must …