By the Editor Helps in Serving Christ
ONLY the power of the Spirit of God, and a knowledge of Jesus Christ, can bring out of our lives the music of service for our Lord. As one has said: “A violin lies on the table silent and without beauty. One picks it up and draws the bow across the strings, but it yields only wailing discords. Then a master comes and takes it up, and he brings from the little instrument the most marvelous music.” Men may touch our lives and bring from them only jangled notes. Christ takes them, and when He has put the chords in tune, He draws from them the music of love, and joy and peace. There is an old legend of an instrument that hung upon a castle wall. Its strings were broken. It was covered with dust. No one understood it, and none could put it in order. But one day a stranger came to the castle. He saw the instrument on the wall. Taking it down he quietly brushed the cobwebs and dust from it, tenderly reset the broken strings, then played upon it. The chords long silent woke beneath his touch, and the castle was filled with rich music.
Our lives in their natural condition are like a harp with broken strings, and covered with the dust of sin. It is only Christ who can change the discords of a life of sin into the harmonies of heaven. He can change us and use us for His glory. He can make us not only “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,” but He can fill us with the music of heaven— “put a new song into our mouths, even praise unto our God.”
And the life made beautiful by the touch of God can only be kept beautiful by communion with God. And if I would serve Christ I must keep in communion with Him, and beware of the first step backwards. My heart, as a Christian, must be right, or I cannot successfully work for Christ. If the mainspring of my watch were broken, the hands would not go round; consequently it would be no use for me to carry it in my pocket as a chronometer, because the hands would not move around the dial. Communion with God is the mainspring of a Christian’s life. If his heart is not right, his whole life will go wrong. If the heart is in communion with Christ, and if it is controlled by Christ, and so doing the will of Christ, the life will go on harmoniously, and people looking at such can see Christ in them.
A Christian asked a fellow Christian one day this question: “How is it M—gives us something new every time he preaches?” The answer was: “You see, he lives so near the gates of heaven, that he hears things we don’t get near enough to hear.”
And if I would serve Christ I must be in earnest.
Can we go calmly through a world where all is against Christ, and where men and women are going to destruction?
Whilst the Crimean War was raging, a chaplain was sent to visit the soldiers. He spoke to a Christian officer, whom he met in the Crimea, and asked him the best way for him to go to work. The Christian replied: “Come with me to the hill-top. Now look around you. There are the pickets of the Army; see that battery on the right, and the men at the guns; see yonder trains of ammunition; hear the roar of that cannon? Look where you will, and you must see that all are in earnest here; for if we don’t conquer the Russians, they will conquer us. We are all in earnest, sir; we are not playing at soldiers; and if you would do good, you must be in earnest too.”
The chaplain learned an important lesson from that Christian soldier. He saw that on that battlefield all were in earnest-each man had his own work to do, and he did it. They were not playing at soldiers. Now are we in earnest, or are we playing at soldiers? Are you playing at being a Christian, or is yours an earnest Christian life?
To serve Christ we should be humble and prayerful, and think much of the Master. “He giveth grace to the lowly.” Oh! may we never foster the thought that we are necessary to God for His work. It is a privilege to be allowed to do anything for Christ, an unspeakable privilege, and if any soul is helped to Christ through our giving a tract, or speaking, or preaching, surely it is for the glory of our Lord. It is Satan’s object to fill us with great ideas of ourselves, hut we must never forget, “He giveth grace to the lowly.”
A noble ship had struck upon a rock, and had sprung a leak. There was a man on board who was very garrulous, and fond of talking about marvelous adventures, in which he was invariably the hero. As soon as he heard of the misfortune to the ship he came up to the captain and said: “Captain, this is a terrible business. I am afraid the ship will go to the bottom.” The captain, knowing what mischief a talkative, self-sufficient man might do at such a grave moment, said to him confidentially: “Well, as you seem to know more about this than anyone else, perhaps you will lend us your valuable help. Will you please stand here and hold on to this rope? Don’t leave it on any account, but pull as hard as you can.” Flattered by the captain’s words, the gentleman laid hold of the rope, put his feet apart, and tugged and strained until he was heartily wishing to be relieved. By and bye the storm abated, the ship was safe, and he was relieved from holding the rope. He expected to be praised for his efforts, and publicly thanked for saving the ship. As no one seemed to be conscious of his high merits, he hinted at last to the captain what he thought. The captain replied: “What, sir, do you think you saved the vessel? I asked you to hold that rope to keep you quiet, fearing that you might alarm other people.” Now my reader, the humblest cabin-boy on hoard that ship did more towards saving it than the man so full of himself. And so the humblest Christian can always do more for Christ than the self-sufficient one, though he may think he can and does do everything.
Oh! God, keep us faithful; may we ever be in communion with Thyself, and earnest and prayerful in our work? May we think much of our blessed Master, and seek with greater longing every day to win that sweet reward for service here, the Master’s words, “Well done”?
“Not I, but Christ, be honored, loved, exalted;
Not I, but Christ, be seen, be known, be heard;
Not I, but Christ, in every look and action;
Not I, but Christ, in every thought and word.”
From “How to Work for Christ.”