“She hath done what she could.” ―Mark 24:8.
THESE were the blessed Saviour’s words concerning one who had broken a costly box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head. Her heart was taken up with Him therefore herself and her substance were consecrated to His service. Christ’s beauty seen, His love felt, and His words known, are the springs of all acceptable service. “The love of Christ constraineth us.”
Dear fellow Christians, what are we doing for Jesus? Let us not be intellectual Christians only, but practical Christians. We may be thought by many to be gracious Christians, but are we faithful Christians? How are we living? Is it to practically honor Christ? Is Christ Himself the one object of our affections? We know that He is all our salvation, but is He all our desire? Is it, then, His glory that we are seeking? Or is it self-glory, self-love, self-pleasing? Are we looking for the praise of men, or the praise of God?
Dear Christian reader, Do you visit the saints that are sick, and minister to the poor of your substance? Are you prayerfully and practically seeking the welfare of the Church of God? Do not say you can do nothing for Christ, for you are a member of His body, and He has given you a place of service in it, and if you ask Him, He will show you what His will is concerning you. You will then find that Christ has given you talents to use for Mm, to occupy till He come. Your blessing and spiritual growth will be hindered, as well as the Lord’s name dishonored, if you are not occupied in service according to His mind.
Think also of the gospel which He commands to be preached to “every creature.” Are you helping it forward by your prayers and substance? Are you preaching it? and if so, are you “steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?”
“Sow in the wild waste places,
Though none thy love may own:
God guides the down of the thistle
The wandering wind hath sown.
Will Jesus chide thy weakness,
Or call thy labor vain?
The word that for Him thou bearest
Shall return to Him again.
Sow with thine heart in heaven,
Thy strength thy Master’s might,
Till some wild waste places blossom
In the warmth of a Saviour’s light.”
Consider the eternal precipice over which so many appear to be hastening, and think how few of our relatives, friends, and neighbors, heartily confess the Lord Jesus! Think of the tens of thousands close at our doors, and the hundreds of millions in the world who manifestly know not Jesus! How many of our acquaintances pride themselves on making “no profession.” Did not Christ weep over impenitent Jerusalem? Did He not lay down His life upon the Cross to save sinners? Did He not shed His blood for the ungodly? Did He not give Himself, His all, for you and me?
How do we, beloved, resemble Jesus in these things? How do we render to Him again? What are we doing for lost souls? Can we say, like Paul, “We are pure from the blood of all men?” Will the Saviour say, when He comes, to you and me, They have done what they could?
“Call to mind the words of Jesus,
Go throughout the wide, wide world;
Let all nations hear the Gospel,
Let them see Christ’s flag unfurled!
Caring not for wealth or pleasure,
Flinging selfish ease away.
Is it not the solemn duty
Christ’s last precept to obey?
“Think of thousands, yea, of millions,
Living, dying, far from God;
And, in His sight, answer truly,
Art thou guilty of their blood?
If a voice within thy spirit
Bids thee to these heathen go,
Hush it not, but humbly waiting,
Ask that God thy way will show.
“But if duty clearly, plainly
Bids thee stay on British soil;
Oh, to spread Christ’s glorious Gospel
Give thy substance, prayers, and toil:
If with riches God has blest thee,
Freely, gladly, largely give;
Thou shalt find it far more blessed
Than it has been to receive.”