"Get Thee Out"

That is life. By its very being and nature, life challenges and commands us, "Get thee out into a land that I will show thee."

We are not meant to settle down and rest in undisturbed contentment. We are born to hopes and aspirations, and unless we quench within us the spirit of pioneering and adventure, we cannot settle down anywhere along life's way and stay there, satisfied and content.

Some people seem completely content to stay where birth an circumstances place them. Life cries, "Get thee out!" But the cry awakens no response. Having food and raiment and a shelter over their heads, therewith they seem satisfied. How pathetic are the lives of such people! They never experience the thrill and joy of pursuing, of achieving, of exploring new worlds.

The law of life for us, as for Abraham, is, "Get thee out." By obedience to this law Abraham discovered a new land and became the founder of a new nation. It is by obedience to this law that all new discoveries are made and progress achieved. The measure of obedience to this law will determine for you the measure of your life--what you become and what you do. "They went forth to go into the land of Canaan." To keep your mind fresh and growing, to make life thrilling, to keep developing and expanding into larger life and usefulness, to be of increasing service to the world, you must have before you continually some land of Canaan toward which you are "going forth." This is the true law of progress.

This law applies, not only for the individual, but in the development of society and the progress of civilization. If ever men lose the spirit of pioneering and declare, "We stop here," we will cease going on to new Canaans of civilization. The world will see no more frontiers of progress. The progress of society and civilization, and of every individual life, is bound up in the law: "Get thee out." "Get thee out ... unto the land that I will show thee." Gen. 12:1.