We must pray the Lord of the harvest that He may send forth laborers into His harvest. It is more devotedness that is lacking.
There are—I know it to be the case—brothers who would be more useful in the work, if only they were more devoted.
They are absorbed by something else, and this not only distracts them from the work, but when they do set themselves to it, there is not that maturity, that furnished condition of soul, that knowledge of hearts, and of the way in which the Word suits itself to their needs, which gives value to ministry. (See 1 Tim. 4:15).
It is not that one might not, if one were to keep quietly in one’s place, be busy about some occupation, manual, or otherwise; Paul was so indeed; but let the heart be in the work, not in a worldly object.