Business Meetings
In all our business meetings, as well as our social and religious
meetings, we want Jesus by our side as a guide and counselor. There
will be no tendency to lightness where the presence of the Saviour
is recognized. Self will not be made prominent. There will be a
realization of the importance of the work that is to be done. There will
be a desire that the plans to be laid may be directed by Him who is
mighty in counsel.
Could our eyes but be opened, we should behold angels of heaven
in our assemblies. Could we but realize this, there would be no desire
to hold to our own opinions upon unimportant points, which so often
retard the progress of the meeting and the work. If there were more
real praying done, if there were more solemn consideration given to
weighty matters, the tone of our business meetings would be changed,
elevated. All would feel that the assembly had met to lay plans for the
advancement of the work, and that the object of the work is only to
save souls.
All that we do and all that we say is transferred to the books of
heaven. Let us not be guilty of bringing down God’s work to the level
of common business transactions. Our standard must be high; our
minds must be elevated.
There are always a few who think, when their brethren are pulling
forward, that it is their duty to pull back. They object to everything that
is proposed, and make war on every plan that they have not themselves
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originated. Here is an opportunity for persons to develop inordinate
self-confidence. They have never learned in the school of Christ the
precious and all-important lesson of becoming meek and lowly. There
is nothing harder for those who possess a strong will than to give up
their own way, and submit to the judgment of others. It is difficult for
such to become teachable, gentle, and easy to be entreated.
In our business meetings, it is important that precious time should
not be consumed in debating points that are of small consequence.
The habit of petty criticism should not be indulged, for it perplexes
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