Shut-Ins

Beyond doubt the Lord has a few shut-ins. The line that bounds their view is only a little way out. They live in a little world of self-interest, of petty cares, of wearying anxieties, of vexing circumstances. They see only the seen things. They live in a small enclosure, and we have grave fears that with some the enclosure is growing smaller every day. A cataract of worldliness is growing over their eyes. There is closeness of fellowship with God, intimacy of communion, blessedness of trust, freedom from care, worry, and fret that they have never discovered. They never get up into that upper region where life stretches out in holy contemplation of God and the glorious realities that the Lord has for Christian souls. Listen at their talk. It is almost continually about the things of the little world of which they are acquainted. If they should be induced to say a word about the spiritual blessings in heavenly places, it is very vague, unreal and incomprehensive. They can talk fluently of the happenings in the neighborhood and of their own affairs, but have no interest in conversing about the beauty of God, of joys unspeakable, of the sweetness of meditation, and the glorious freedom of the soul.