Church the Light of the World
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your powers for the Master, the more apt and skillful you will become.
The more closely you connect yourself with the Source of light and
power, the greater light will be shed upon you, and the greater power
will be yours to use for God. And for all that you might have had, but
failed to obtain through your devotion to the world, you are responsible.
When you became a follower of Christ you pledged yourself to serve
Him and Him alone, and He promised to be with you and bless you,
to refresh you with His light, to grant you His peace, and to make you
joyful in His work. Have you failed to experience these blessings? be
sure it is the result of your own course.
In order to escape the draft during the war, there were men who
induced disease, others maimed themselves that they might be rendered
unfit for service. Here is an illustration of the course which many have
been pursuing in relation to the cause of God. They have crippled their
powers, both physical and mental, so that they are unable to do the
work which is so greatly needed.
Suppose that a sum of money were placed in your hands to invest
for a certain purpose; would you throw it away and declare that you
were not now responsible for its use? would you feel that you had
saved yourself a great care? Yet this is what you have been doing with
the gifts of God. To excuse yourself from working for others on the
plea of inability, while you are all absorbed in worldly pursuits, is
mockery of God. Multitudes are going down to ruin; the people who
have received light and truth are but as a handful to withstand all the
host of evil; and yet this little company are devoting their energies to
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anything and everything but to learning how they may rescue souls
from death. Is it any marvel that the church is weak and inefficient, that
God can do but little for His professed people? They place themselves
where it is impossible for Him to work with them and for them. Dare
you continue thus to disregard His claims? Will you still trifle with
heaven’s most sacred trusts? Will you say with Cain: “Am I my
brother’s keeper?”
Remember that your responsibility is measured, not by your present
resources and capacities, but by the powers originally bestowed and
the possibilities for improvement. The question which each one should
ask himself is not whether he is now inexperienced and unfit to labor
in God’s cause, but how and why he is in this condition, and how
it can be remedied. God will not supernaturally endow us with the