52
Christian Service
you had searched near the wagon. You might have found fruit as well
as I.
“The lesson that you have this day given to those who are just
learning how to do this kind of work, will be copied by them. The
Lord has placed these fruit-bearing bushes right in the midst of these
thickly settled places, and He expects you to find them. But you have
been altogether too much engaged in eating, and amusing yourselves.
[49]
You did not come to the field with an earnest determination to find
fruit.
“You must hereafter work with more zeal and earnestness, and
with an altogether different object in view, or your labors will never be
successful. By working in the right way, you will teach the younger
workers that such matters as eating and recreation are of minor im-
portance. It has been hard work to bring the wagon of supplies to the
ground, but you have thought more of the supplies than of the fruit
you ought to carry home as the result of your labors. You should be
diligent, first to pick the berries nearest you, and then to search for
those farther away; after that you can return and work near by again,
and thus you will be successful.”—
Gospel Workers, 136-139
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The Test to Be Met
In the last solemn work few great men will be engaged. They are
self-sufficient, independent of God, and He cannot use them. The Lord
has faithful servants, who in the shaking, testing time will be disclosed
to view. There are precious ones now hidden who have not bowed
the knee to Baal. They have not had the light which has been shining
in a concentrated blaze upon you. But, it may be under a rough and
uninviting exterior the pure brightness of a genuine Christian character
will be revealed. In the daytime we look toward heaven, but do not
see stars. They are there, fixed in the firmament, but the eye cannot
distinguish them. In the night we behold their genuine luster.
The time is not far distant, when the test will come to every soul....
In this time, the gold will be separated from the dross in the church.
True godliness will be clearly distinguished from the appearance and
tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliancy, will
then go out in darkness. Chaff like a cloud will be borne away on
the wind, even from places where we see only floors of rich wheat.