If I had the ear of my younger brethren in Christ who seek to serve their gracious Master in the ministry of the Word, in Sunday-school work, in street preaching, in tract distribution, or any other form of Christian labor, I would say to them in deep affection, See to it that your service is the outcome of communion with Christ. Rivers of living water can only flow from those who go to Him and drink, and you must go continually. Be careful to allow nothing to becloud your enjoyment of divine love, for the joy of the Lord is your strength; and seek to realize for yourselves the exceeding preciousness of Christ, so that when you speak of Him it may be out of the fullness of a heart made abundantly happy. It is true the outward form of service may be sustained by the mere energy of nature, and apart from communion with Christ; but then every element will be wanting that makes the service acceptable to Him, and your own soul will be enfeebled and become like withered grass.
And I would further say, Be on your guard against making service your one object. They seldom serve well who do. We have known earnest men who have fallen into this snare. They are never satisfied unless always on the move, and they think little of others who follow not in their steps. Now Martha served much, and found fault with one who seemed to serve less; yet the latter received the Lord's commendation, and Martha missed it. There is a zeal that compasses sea and land, but it is not fed from celestial fires. There is a running to and fro with restless feet, and a doing of this and that which after all may be but the goodliness of the flesh which fades away. The Spirit of the Lord blows upon it and it is gone.
Cultivate communion with God, be much in prayer, and study the Word of God that your own soul may be fed. How else shall you feed others? "It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? Or saith He it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written." 1 Cor. 9:9, 10. In thinking of others and laboring for their good, God would have us feed for ourselves. We shall soon famish if we do not, and spiritual strength will decline—a keeper of the vineyard of others while our own vineyard will not have been kept.
You will find it a deadening habit to read the Word only to search out something for other people. Moreover, what you gather up and set before others will be mere religious information in which there will be no heavenly unction. It differs from the living ministry of the Holy Spirit as chalk from cheese.
Be faithful also in little things; it may be that God will then entrust you with greater matters. We are a little afraid of those who neglect the commonplace duties of everyday life for what they are pleased to think and call the work of the Lord. At all events do faithfully and well whatever comes to your hand. In a humble school, far removed from public observation, God is wont to train His servants for their higher mission. Moses was forty years in the back side of the desert keeping the flocks of his father-in-law ere he was called to lead out the tribes of Israel from the house of bondage; and David in the wilderness watching over the few sheep of Jesse, was there prepared for his conflict with Goliath in the valley of Elah. The years thus spent were not wasted years; the fruit of them was seen ever afterward.
But though I say this, let none hold back from serving Christ under the mistaken plea of youth or inexperience. An infant's hand may plant the acorn that will yet become a stately oak. It is no common thing for small beginnings to have endings that are by no means small. What know we of Andrew's public preaching? Nothing. But it was he who brought his brother Simon to Jesus, and we know Simon's ministry was blessed to thousands. When John Williams was an apprentice lad, a humble Christian woman invited him to go with her and hear the gospel. Williams went and was converted and afterward became a famous missionary whose labors in the South Sea Islands led multitudes to Christ. We may not be able to do much, but let us do what we can. A word fervently spoken, a tract discreetly given, may yield abundant fruit if God's blessing goes with it. Be it ours to sow the seed in prayerful hope, for who can tell but what the harvest shall be most abundant. "Withhold not thine hand." "Freely ye have received, freely give."