0575. 563. Mistakes and Moulders of Life
563. Mistakes and Moulders of Life
Judge Rintoul, of the City of London Court, gave an extremely interesting address when he spoke to the members of the Bartholomew Club, on “The Fourteen Mistakes of Life.” He said pathetically: “I think I have the greatest fitness for speaking on this subject, because I have committed every one of them.” And this is the list he gave:
1. To attempt to set up our own standard of right and wrong, and expect everybody to conform to it.
2. To try to measure the enjoyment of others by our own.
3. To expect uniformity of opinion in this world.
4. To look for judgment and experience in youth.
5. To endeavour to mould all dispositions alike.
6. Not to yield in unimportant trifles.
7. To look for perfection in our own actions.
8. To worry ourselves and others about what cannot be remedied.
9. Not to alleviate if we can all that needs alleviation.
10. Not to make allowances for the weakness of others.
11. To consider anything impossible that we cannot ourselves perform.
12. To believe only what our finite minds can grasp.
13. To live as if the moment, the time, the day, were so important that it would live for ever.
14. To estimate people by some outside quality, for it is that within which makes the man.
When we turn to the pages of Holy Writ, we find the opposites to what Judge Rintoul says about mistakes.
1. The Rule of Life is found in the ten commandments—Exo_20:1-17.
2. The Example of Life is to be like Christ; that is, to bring enjoyment to others—Act_10:38.
3. The Word of Life is to think with God, and thus to think with each other—Joh_17:21.
4. The Wisdom of Life is to listen to the voice of experience and wisdom—Pro_1:8.
5. The Aim of Life is to please the Lord—2Co_5:9, R.V.
6. The Kindness of Life is to yield to others when no principle of right is involved—Rom_14:10-16.
7. The Secret of Life is for Christ to live within us, for He alone can produce perfection in us—Gal_2:20.
8. The Joy of Life is to be “anxious for nothing,” thankful for anything, and prayerful in everything—Php_4:6, Php_4:7.
9. The Work of Life is to alleviate all the misery we can, and thus bring joy to ourselves—Heb_13:16.
10. The Help of Life is to remove the weaknesses we see in others, not forgetting the weakness in ourselves—Gal_6:1-3.
11. The Unity of Life is to remember that no man lives to himself, and that we cannot do without each other, any more than one member of the body can do without the other—1Co_12:14-27.
12. The Fact of Life cannot be explained by the finite, therefore, there are many things which are beyond human comprehension—Job_11:7.
13. The Future of Life is ever before us; therefore, to live only in the present moment is the greatest folly—Luk_12:16-40.
14. The Inness of Life is its true character; therefore, to estimate things or people by an outside quality is to miss the guiding principle, that the unseen things are the real, and the seen things are the unreal—2Co_4:18.
By: DR. F. E. MARSH