"Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." (Heb. 11:26.) " This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt front off you." (Josh. 5:9.)

As a young man, Moses had remarkably bright prospects from a worldly point of view. Of a despised race oppressed, and apparently doomed to destruction, he had been adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, and instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians; thus having every advantage that worldly wealth, wisdom, and position could give him. Nor were these things trifles. He who begins by despising allurements, often ends by succumbing to them.

But there came a time in his life when other motives began to have power with him. The seeds of truth, doubtless planted by a faithful mother during the time of his childhood, had sprung up, and he was not ashamed to call his brethren those despised and oppressed Israelites, whom, spite of their bondage, he doubtless recognized as the objects of God's favor, the subjects of His counsels of grace -His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Here he deliberately identified himself with those who were a reproach in the eyes of the Egyptians. To thus identify himself he had to give up his worldly prospects, to "refuse" them, as one at a later day could say, '' What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." But he had a true idea of the relative value of the things despised by the world, and quietly preferred them to the treasures in Egypt. Little difference did it make to him whether or not he might one day be king, his heart was set on God's blessings, and these, we are told here, were in and through Christ. The reproach, then, was not the reproach of Israel, but of Christ.

So for us to-day, there is a reproach in the eyes of the world connected with a faithful confession of Christ. It may be called by other names-it mostly is-but it is simply the reproach of Christ. It is the way He is regarded by the world. Have we, as Moses, learned fully to look at God's side ? He has highly exhalted Christ, delights in Him, has put all power and all glory in His hands. Through Him all blessings come-through Him alone. The day is fast coming when the world will see all this; but faith sees it now, and, in the light of it, esteems the reproach of Christ, the very thing the world sneers at, as more valuable than the best the world can give,- its honors, its riches, learning. Christ has been learned, and a true value put upon Him. Well it is for the soul, in days of worldliness like these, thus to appreciate and hold fast to what is despised with men.

Let us face it. If we will follow Christ, we will get some of His reproach. Is it dearer to us to be laughed at for His sake than to be bowed to by those who do not know or love Him? Nay, even those who are His, but "following afar off," may be the ones whose scorn we may have to meet, who will smile at our '' extreme views "or " peculiar actions." If Christ is precious to us, above all and every body, these reproaches will be welcome, even if painful. They will be more valuable to us that the rich things of earth.

But there is reproach of another kind. The reproach of Christ was that view of His people and cause by the Egyptians. The reproach of Egypt is God's view of that which savors of the land of death and judgment among His people. It is a reproach to remember the world. The circumstances under which the remark was made makes its meaning plain. The people had just set foot in the land, and were about to begin their work of conquest. But before they could strike a blow, a work among themselves was needed. During those weary forty years of wilderness wanderings they had failed to circumcise their children. So that the new generation which had grown up were in that respect not Israelites at all. Figuratively, circumcision was the application of the death of Christ to the person. It was entering into the significance of that death which has not only taken away judgment, but passed sentence of death upon the world as well. Until this is realized, the believer is to a certain extent conformed to the world; not to its vices necessarily, but to its thoughts, its ways. He will try to reform it, he will have his home in it. But let him realize that the cross has crucified the world to him and he will no longer be of it. And until this is the case, he is in no condition to enjoy heavenly truths. It is this which is a reproach in God's sight. It is the reproach of Egypt, being like the world.

If we are looking with the eyes of faith, God's eyes, we will esteem the reproach of Christ, but we will have rolled off the reproach of Egypt.