Whoever has been used of God as the instrument to write upon the tablets of a human heart the name of Jesus, has not lived or labored in vain.
On some hearts are written fame, glory, power; on others, words not only corruptible but corrupt—avarice, oppression, sensuality; for a man is what fills his heart, and for the treasure of his heart he lives. Now, on our hearts inscribed with our objects, God uses the ministry of His gospel to engrave the name of His Son, and when that name is graven in the affections, the life is changed, and the objects are altered, and a man is a Christian indeed.
Paul sums up the noblest Christian living in these words:
“To me to live is Christ”; Christ, not self; Christ, not fame, or glory, or power; Christ, no longer avarice, or oppression, or sensuality; for where Christ dwells, there He reigns, and where He reigns there peace and joy dwell. The heavy burden of unforgiven sin is exchanged for the burden of His yoke; the bondage of legal effort, for the liberty wherewith He makes us free; the drudgery of religious duty, for the bright joy of serving the Lord.
What holds good for the ministry of the gospel to the unconverted, is equally true for ministry for the Christian. The great aim of ministry for God’s people should be to fill their hearts with Christ.
Now, he or she who can so influence his or her fellow-Christians as to lead them to make much of Christ, has not lived or labored in vain! Such work will stand in the great testing day, when the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.