Christian Emulation

 "Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church." I Corinthians 14: 12. 

"I will stick to Christ as a burr 
to cloth" Katherine Von Bora

       "Seek to excel." What a strange precept for a gospel of love! Is not the wish to excel, a very bad thing? Is it not the root of most of the evil in the world? Is it not the cause of jarrings and jealousies and jostlings? Does it not raise heart-burnings different from those of the disciples on the road to Emmaus? Yes; but look at the passage again. Look at the reason given for the precept: Forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts. Paul says if they had been zealous for material gifts he would have given very different advice. To excel in a material gift means to excel others. The possession of outward fame depends on your superiority; the beauty of a particular type of face lies in its rarity.

       But to excel in spiritual gifts is not to excel others; it is to surpass our former selves. The value of a spiritual gift depends on its diffusiveness - on the number of people that have it besides myself. Joy dies unless it is shared. Love breaks the heart unless it is reciprocated. Knowledge makes a solitude if it is possessed by one alone - the solitude of the Son of Man. The gold of the outward world is precious 'from its scarcity; but the gold of the kingdom of God grows precious as it becomes ample.

       My soul, wouldst thou know whether thy gift is spiritual or temporal? Ask thyself the question, Why do I wish to excel in it? Is it that men may say, "He walketh among the golden candlesticks; he is the chief among ten thousand"? Then thy gift is temporal - a poor fragile, earthly thing. But is it that thou mayst make others rich? Is it that thou mayst share with those around thee? Is it that men may cease to say of thee, ''He is the chief among ten thousand"? Is it that thou mayst make thy brother glad? Is it that thy voice may cheer the toiling, that thy song may brighten the invalid, that thy reading may instruct the blind, that thy painted flower may gladden the infirmary, that thy music may beguile a sister's hour of weariness, that thy poetry may kindle the aspiring of drooping souls? Then is thy gift spiritual, whatever it may be. Be it stone and lime, be it verse and rhyme, be it earth and time, if it is meant for ''the edifying of the Church" it is a gift of the Spirit of God.