Call to Arouse
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“I know that it is all of God’s grace, and not through any merit of
anything that I have done; but I think I have evidence that more than
one hundred souls have been converted to God through my personal
instrumentality.”—
Testimonies for the Church 5:307, 308
.
This world is not the Christian’s heaven, but merely the workshop
of God, where we are to be fitted up to unite with sinless angels in a
holy heaven.—
Testimonies for the Church 2:187
.
The humblest and poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing
to others. They may not realize that they are doing any special good,
but by their unconscious influence they may start waves of blessing
that will widen and deepen, and the blessed results they may never
know until the day of final reward. They do not feel or know that they
are doing anything great. They are not required to weary themselves
with anxiety about success. They have only to go forward quietly,
doing faithfully the work that God’s providence assigns, and their life
will not be in vain. Their own souls will be growing more and more
into the likeness of Christ; they are workers together with God in this
life, and are thus fitting for the higher work and the unshadowed joy
of the life to come.—
Steps to Christ, 83
.
There are many who have given themselves to Christ, yet who
see no opportunity of doing a large work or making great sacrifices
in His service. These may find comfort in the thought that it is not
necessarily the martyr’s self-surrender which is most acceptable to
God; it may not be the missionary who has daily faced danger and
death, that stands highest in heaven’s records. The Christian who is
such in his private life, in the daily surrender of self, in sincerity of
purpose and purity of thought, in meekness under provocation, in faith
and piety, in fidelity in that which is least, the one who in the home
life represents the character of Christ,—such a one may in the sight of
God be more precious than even the world-renowned missionary or
[103]
martyr.—
Christ’s Object Lessons, 403
.
Not the amount of labor performed, or its visible results, but the
spirit in which the work is done, makes it of value with God.—
Christ’s
Object Lessons, 397
.
The approval of the Master is not given because of the greatness
of the work performed, because many things have been gained, but
because of the fidelity in even a few things. It is not the great results
we attain, but the motives from which we act, that weigh with God.