“Our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: but as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts” —1 Thessalonians 2:3, 43For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: 4But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:3‑4).
CONSCIOUS of their own integrity, the early messengers of Christ declared the message in the fear of the Lord, with no corrupt motives, nor selfish desire simply to create a following which would prove profitable to them. Paul emphasizes the importance of reality as to one’s own life before God, if his service is to have any weight with men. To how many professed ministers of Christ might Emerson’s stinging words apply: “What you are speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say”! They who would preach Christ must needs be careful to manifest Christ in their ways; else what they are will belie their message.
“How blest is life if lived for Thee.
My loving Saviour and my Lord:
No pleasures that the world can give
Such perfect gladness can afford.
To know I am Thy ransomed child,
Bought by Thine own most precious blood,
And from Thy loving hand to take
With grateful heart each gift of good;
All day to walk beneath Thy smile,
Watching Thine eye to guide me still,
To rest at night beneath Thy care,
Guarded by Thee from every ill.”
—Anon.