I shall relate an incident. One afternoon we had a nice Bible reading at a conference. A minister was there, a child of God. I knew him personally. In fact, his mother was in the meeting. I remarked to him at the close of the reading what a lovely time we had had over the Word of God, and he gave a rather reluctant agreement to the statement and added, “I don’t attach much importance to this kind of thing. I believe that God measures all things in terms of the salvation of men’s souls.” He meant it. He was sincere, and I believe he was a real soul-winner, too. Someday all his service for Christ is going to pass in solemn review at the judgment seat of Christ. Do you think that his idea will be the measuring stick in that coming day? Is God going to sum up our Christian lives in terms of how many souls we have won for Christ? Paul said in writing to the saints, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men” (2 Cor. 3:2). What do they read in you? Do they read only that which concerns man’s salvation? Or do they find in you the spirit of Epaphras, who was seeking to be in harmony with the will of God concerning Christ and the church? We need the right standard of measurement; if we do not have it, we may drift far off from God’s thoughts.
One remembers, perhaps 30 years ago, brother M. and I helped a widow to excavate for a new home. We measured the length and width, but one inch of the yardstick had been cut off, and we did not know it. When the mason came to lay the bricks, he was disgusted to find the hole in the ground was too small both ways. We were sincere; we did not know there was an inch missing — never dreamed of it. We had to be convinced. But we were using a faulty standard of measurement, and the result showed up in our work. The mason came along and saw the error. And if we use the wrong measuring stick in our work down here for God, we can expect our work to be faulty. We want to be sure in our Christian life and testimony that we are making room for the whole scope and realm of God’s full and free revelation.