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Glorify the Master, August 21
Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the
interests of others.
Philippians 2:4
, NIV.
How earnest, how touching, [Paul’s] appeal: “Ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye
through his poverty might be rich.” You know the height from which He stooped,
the depth of humiliation to which He descended. His feet entered upon the path of
sacrifice, and turned not aside until He had given His life. There was no rest for Him
between the throne in heaven and the cross. His love for man led Him to welcome
every indignity and suffer every abuse.
Paul admonishes us to “look not every man on his own things, but every man
also on the things of others.” He bids us possess the mind “which was also in Christ
Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled
himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”....
“Ye know,” says Peter, “that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold” ... (
1 Peter 1:18
). Oh, had these been sufficient to purchase the
salvation of man, how easily it might have been accomplished by Him who says,
“The silver is mine, and the gold is mine”! (
Haggai 2:8
). But the sinner could be
redeemed only by the precious blood of the Son of God. Those who, failing to
appreciate this wonderful sacrifice, withhold themselves from Christ’s service will
perish in their selfishness....
Everyone who accepts Christ as his personal Saviour will long for the privilege
of serving God. Contemplating what heaven has done for him, his heart is moved
with boundless love and adoring gratitude. He is eager to signalize his gratitude by
devoting his abilities to God’s service. He longs to show his love for Christ and for
his purchased possession. He covets toil, hardship, sacrifice.
The true worker for God will do his best, because in so doing he can glorify
his Master. He will do right in order to regard the requirements of God. He will
endeavor to improve all his faculties. He will perform every duty as unto God. His
one desire will be that Christ may receive homage and perfect service.
There is a picture representing a bullock standing between a plow and an altar,
with the inscription “Ready for either”—ready to toil in the furrow or to be offered
on the altar of sacrifice. This is the position of the true child of God—willing to go
where duty calls, to deny self, to sacrifice for the Redeemer’s cause (
The Ministry
of Healing, 501, 502
).
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