Chapter 8—Willing to Spend and Be Spent
[
Appeared in Notebook Leaflets, Christian Experience, No. 3.
]
He who loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself will
work with the constant realization that he is a spectacle to the world,
to angels, and to men. Making God’s will his will, he will reveal
in his life the transforming power of the grace of Christ. In all the
circumstances of life, he will take Christ’s example as his guide.
Every true, self-sacrificing worker for God is willing to spend and
be spent for the sake of others. Christ says, “He that loveth his life
shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto
life eternal” (
John 12:25
). By earnest, thoughtful efforts to help where
help is needed, the true Christian shows his love for God and for his
fellow beings. He may lose his life in service. But when Christ comes
to gather His jewels to Himself, he will find it again.
My brethren and sisters, do not spend a large amount of time
and money on self, for the sake of appearance. Those who do this
are obliged to leave undone many things that would have comforted
others, sending a warm glow to their weary spirits. We all need to
learn how to improve more faithfully the opportunities that so often
come to us to bring light and hope into the lives of others. How can
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we improve these opportunities if our thoughts are centered upon self?
He who is self-centered loses countless opportunities for doing that
which would have brought blessing to others and to himself. It is the
duty of the servant of Christ, under every circumstance, to ask himself,
“What can I do to help others?” Having done his best, he is to leave
the consequences with God.
I desire so to live that in the future life I can feel that during this life
I did what I could. God has provided for every one pleasure that may
be enjoyed by rich and poor alike—the pleasure found in cultivating
pureness of thought and unselfishness of action, the pleasure that
comes from speaking sympathizing words and doing kindly deeds.
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