To a really obedient heart the question is not at all, What am I doing? or, Where am I going? It is simply, Am I doing the will of my Lord?
We have ever to be on our. guard against a spirit of self-will and self-pleasing, which is never so dangerous as when it clothes itself in the garb of religious service, and work so-called.
We as Christians are very apt to jostle one another; indeed, we are sure to do so if we do not each one pursue his own divinely appointed line of work.
If the Lord has made one man an evangelist, another a teacher, another a pastor, and another an exhorter, how is the work to go on? Surely it is not by the evangelist trying to teach, and the teacher to exhort, or one who is not fitted for either, trying to do both.
It is not a question of taking upon us much or little, but of doing our appointed work, and filling our appointed places. It is by the effectual working of all the members, according to the measure of every part, that the edification of the whole body is promoted.
Nothing can be more worthless than seeking a place for oneself. It is sure to end in disappointment and confusion.
One who comes forward much in public will need that chastened spirit, that matured judgment, that subdued and mortified mind, that broken will, that mellow tone, which are the sure and beautiful result of God's secret discipline; and it will generally be found that those who take a prominent place without more or less of the above moral qualifications, will, sooner or later, break down.
The Lord Jesus never once stopped to inquire how any act or circumstance would affect Himself.
It is impossible that a man full of himself can be a vessel of the Holy Ghost. Such a one must first be emptied of himself, and then the Spirit can use him.
If only we are self-emptied, our every act may emit a sweet odor to God. The smallest as well as the greatest services may, by the power of the Holy Ghost, present the fragrance of Christ. The paying of a visit, the writing of a letter, the public ministry of the Word, giving a cup of cold water to a disciple, giving a penny to a pauper, yes, the commonplace acts of eating and drinking—all may emit the sweet perfume of the name and grace of Jesus.
God has had all His servants very much alone with Himself, both before and after their entrance upon their public work; nor will anyone ever get on without this. The absence of secret training and discipline will, necessarily, leave us barren, superficial, and theoretic. A man who ventures forth upon a public career ere he has duly weighed himself in the balances of the sanctuary, or measured himself in the presence of God, is like a ship putting out to sea without the proper ballast; he will doubtless overset with the first stiff breeze. A man who is always doing, will be apt to do too much.
If I allow my work to get between my heart and the Master, it will be little worth. We can only effectually serve Christ as we are enjoying Him; nor is there anyone who can minister Christ with unction, freshness, and power to others, if he be not feeding upon Christ in the secret of his own soul.
The man who will present Christ to others must be occupied with Christ for himself.
God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends.
The man who is merely feeding on the fruits of his ministry, who delights in the gratification which it affords, or the attention and interest which it commands, is like a mere pipe conveying waters to others, and retaining only rust itself.
In order to act for God outside, I should be with Him inside.
Be it remembered that the man who will speak on God's behalf of death and judgment, life and salvation, must, ere he does so, enter into the practical power of these things in his own soul.
It frequently happens that the very person whose presence we deem essential to our progress and success, afterward proves a source of deepest sorrow to our hearts.
The messenger of God should ever remember whose message he bears.