The really devoted servant will keep his eye not on his service, be it ever so great, but on the Master, and this will produce a spirit of worship. If I love my master according to the flesh, I shall not mind whether I am cleaning his shoes or driving his carriage, but if I am thinking more of myself than of him, I shall rather be a coachman than a shoe-shiner. So it is precisely in the service of the heavenly Master; if I am thinking only of Him, planting churches and making tents will be both alike to me.
We may see the same thing in angelic ministry. It matters not to an angel whether he is sent to destroy an army or to protect the person of some heir of salvation; it is the Master who entirely fills his vision. As someone has remarked, “If two angels were sent from heaven, one to rule an empire and the other to sweep the streets, they would not dispute about their respective work.” This is most true, and so it should be with us. The servant should ever be combined with the worshipper, and the works of our hands perfumed with the ardent breathings of our spirits. In other words, we should go forth to our work in the spirit of those memorable words, “I and the lad will go yonder and worship.” This would effectually preserve us from that merely mechanical service into which we are so prone to drop—doing things for doing’s sake and being more occupied with our work than with our Master. All must flow from simple faith in God and obedience to His Word.
C. H. Mackintosh