We are at the beginning of another year. Many thousands now entering it will have passed away before it is ended! These seasons that remind us of the rapid march of time, and of the equally rapid approach of eternity, may well fill our minds with serious thoughts.
Perhaps most of the readers of Echoes of Grace have witnessed death in some form during the last twelve months. Funeral processions are common occurrences in our cities! Or it may be that the last dread enemy has entered your home, my reader, and laid his ruthless hand upon an object of your deep affection. Has not this been a voice to you?
In view of this, we would affectionately and earnestly ask you, Is it well with your soul? You are now at the start of a New Year. Begin it with Christ, we beseech you. Spend it for Christ; then, should He call you or should Christ come before its close, you will spend eternity with Him.
Reader, God loves you. He longs to have your allegiance and affection. He died to save you. If you are still in your sins, respond to Him now. Is not the amazing love He showed at Calvary enough to win you? Again we beseech you, come to Him as a poor, helpless, unworthy sinner; trust Him with your soul, and present yourself to Him as a grateful and "a living sacrifice." Rom. 12:11I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1).
To those who know the Lord, we would say, "Sow thy seed!" Sow it "in the morning," sow it at noontide, sow it "in the evening." And, "Let us not be weary in well-doing."
To all distributors of Gospel tracts we would say, "Sow thy seed" in faith; scatter it in prayerfulness. "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Oh, what words of encouragement for those who distribute the Word at home and abroad! "Sow thy seed," and God will give the increase.
Not long ago a lady told us how the Lord had met her need and saved her soul. She had been anxious about her salvation for a long time. The Spirit of God had wrought conviction in her conscience, and she longed for peace, but knew not how or where to find it. One day she noticed a bit of paper in her garden; it looked untidy, and she picked it up, intending to throw it over the fence into the road. It was a torn tract. She put the pieces together, began to read it, and before she had finished it found that God had used it to speak peace to her soul!
"Sow thy seed." Possibly the tract distributor, had he seen the tract being torn and thrown away, would have thought his labor lost; but, "Sow thy seed... for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that."
A few years ago a Christian friend was on a train going to another city. In the coach was a young man most zealously distributing tracts. All the passengers but one had courteously received what had been politely offered. This one was a young lady, elegantly attired, who, when her turn came, kept intently looking out the window as though admiring the scenery. The young man quietly placed the tract on the seat beside her. At the next station she got out, and her place was taken by a careless-looking lad. When the train had started he noticed the tract lying on the seat beside him. He picked it up and threw it out of the window. The Christian, anxious to know what its fate would be, put his head out of the window to see. It fluttered about in the wind for a little, and finally dropped at the feet of a plate-layer on the line. The man picked it up, read its title, wiped off the dust, and put it in his pocket. "Ah," thought the Christian, "it has reached the one for whom God intended it."
May we not hope to meet that plate-layer in glory as the result of reading that tract?
Again we say, "Sow thy seed."
"I (Paul) have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." 1 Cor. 3: 6.