Ready for Every Good Work
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He is thus a missionary for the Lord, doing the Master’s work with
fidelity, and will receive a reward by and by.
Let the Christian keep his own counsel and divulge no secret to
unbelievers. Let him communicate no secret that will disparage God’s
people. Guard your thoughts, close the door to temptation. Do your
work as in the sight of the divine Watcher. Work patiently, expecting
that, through the grace of Christ, you will make a success in your
profession. Keep up the barriers which the Lord has erected for your
safety. Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues
of life, or of death.
A physician should attend strictly to his professional work. He
should not allow anything to come in to divert his mind from his
business, or to take his attention from those who are looking to him for
relief from suffering. An assuring and hopeful word spoken in season
to the sufferer will often relieve his mind and win for the physician a
place in his confidence. Kindness and courtesy should be manifested;
but the common, cheap talk which is so customary even among some
who claim to be Christians, should not be heard in our institutions.
The only way for us to become truly courteous, without affectation,
without undue familiarity, is to drink in the spirit of Christ, to heed
the injunction, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16
. If we act
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upon the principles laid down in the word of God, we shall have no
inclination to indulge in undue familiarity.
The workers in our institutions should be living examples of what
they desire those to be who are patients in the institution. A right spirit
and a holy life are a constant instruction to others. The hollowhearted
courtesy of the fashionable world is of no value in the sight of Him
by whom actions are weighed. There should be no partiality and no
hypocrisy. The physician should be ready for every good work. If his
life is hid with Christ in God, he will be a missionary in the highest
sense.
When they are together, Christian physicians will conduct them-
selves as sons of God. They will realize that they are engaged to work
in the same vineyard, and selfish barriers will be broken down. For
each other they will feel a deep interest, untainted with selfishness.
He who is himself a reformer can accomplish good in seeking to re-
form others. By precept and example he can be a savor of life unto
life. Would that the curtain could be rolled back, and we could see