Lessons of Life
75
The Law of Ministry
All things both in heaven and in earth declare that the great law
of life is a law of service. The infinite Father ministers to the life of
every living thing. Christ came to the earth “as He that serveth.”
Luke
22:27
. The angels are “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
them who shall be heirs of salvation.”
Hebrews 1:14
. The same law
of service is written upon all things in nature. The birds of the air, the
beasts of the field, the trees of the forest, the leaves, the grass, and the
flowers, the sun in the heavens and the stars of light—all have their
ministry. Lake and ocean, river and water spring—each takes to give.
As each thing in nature ministers thus to the world’s life, it also
secures its own. “Give, and it shall be given unto you” (
Luke 6:38
), is
the lesson written no less surely in nature than in the pages of Holy
Writ.
As the hillsides and the plains open a channel for the mountain
stream to reach the sea, that which they give is repaid a hundredfold.
The stream that goes singing on its way leaves behind its gift of
beauty and fruitfulness. Through the fields, bare and brown under the
[104]
summer’s heat, a line of verdure marks the river’s course; every noble
tree, every bud, every blossom, a witness to the recompense God’s
grace decrees to all who become its channels to the world.
Sowing in Faith
Of the almost innumerable lessons taught in the varied processes
of growth, some of the most precious are conveyed in the Saviour’s
parable of the growing seed. It has lessons for old and young.
“So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the
ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should
spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth
fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in
the ear.”
Mark 4:26-28
.
The seed has in itself a germinating principle, a principle that God
Himself has implanted; yet if left to itself the seed would have no
power to spring up. Man has his part to act in promoting the growth
of the grain; but there is a point beyond which he can accomplish