Seite 119 - Testimonies for the Church Volume 5 (1889)

Das ist die SEO-Version von Testimonies for the Church Volume 5 (1889). Klicken Sie hier, um volle Version zu sehen

« Vorherige Seite Inhalt Nächste Seite »
Chapter 11—Laborers for God
Fellow laborers in the great harvest field, we have but little time
left in which to labor. Now is the most favorable opportunity we shall
ever have, and how carefully ought every moment to be employed.
So devoted was our Redeemer to the work of saving souls that He
even longed for His baptism of blood. The apostles caught the zeal
of their Master and firmly, steadily, zealously went forward to the
accomplishment of their great work, fighting against principalities and
powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places.
We are living in a time when even greater earnestness is needed
than in the apostles’ day. But among many of the ministers of Christ
there is a feeling of unrest, a desire to imitate the romantic style of
modern revivalists, a desire to do something great, to create a sensation,
to be accounted able speakers, and to gain for themselves honor and
distinction. If such could encounter perils and receive the honor given
to heroes, they would engage in the work with unflagging energy.
But to live and labor almost unknown, to toil and sacrifice for Jesus
[133]
in obscurity, receiving no special praise from men—this requires a
soundness of principle and a steadfastness of purpose that but few
possess. Were there a greater effort to walk humbly with God, looking
away from men and laboring only for Christ’s sake, far more would be
accomplished.
My ministering brethren, seek Jesus with all lowliness and meek-
ness. Do not try to draw the attention of the people to yourselves. Let
them lose sight of the instrument, while you exalt Jesus. Talk of Jesus;
lose self in Jesus. There is too much bustle and stir about our religion,
while Calvary and the cross are forgotten.
We are in the greatest peril when we receive praise of one another,
when we enter into a confederacy to exalt one another. The great
burden of the Pharisees was to secure the praise of men; and Christ
told them that that was all the reward they would ever receive. Let us
take up our appointed work and do it for Christ; if we suffer privation,
115