Consecration
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not hesitate, inquiring, How shall I live, and sustain my family? They
were obedient to the call; and when afterward Jesus asked them, “What
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I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?”
they could answer, “Nothing.” [
Luke 22:35
.]
Today the Saviour calls us, as He called Matthew and John and
Peter, to His work. If our hearts are touched by His love, the question
of compensation will not be uppermost in our minds. We shall rejoice
to be co-workers with Christ, and we shall not fear to trust His care.
If we make God our strength, we shall have clear perceptions of duty,
and unselfish aspirations; our life will be actuated by a noble purpose,
which will raise us above sordid motives.
Many whom the Lord could use will not hear and obey His voice
above all others. Kindred and friends, former habits and associations,
have so strong an influence upon them that God can give them but
little instruction, can communicate to them but little knowledge of
His purposes. The Lord would do much more for His servants if they
were wholly consecrated to Him, placing His service above the ties of
kindred and all other earthly associations.
Deeper Consecration Needed
The time demands greater efficiency and deeper consecration. I
cry to God, Raise up and send forth messengers filled with a sense of
their responsibility, men in whose hearts self-idolatry, which lies at the
foundation of all sin, has been crucified; who are willing to consecrate
themselves without reserve to God’s service; whose souls are alive to
the sacredness of the work and the responsibility of their calling; who
are determined not to bring to God a maimed sacrifice, which costs
them neither effort nor prayer.
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The Duke of Wellington was once present where a party of Chris-
tian men were discussing the possibility of success in missionary effort
among the heathen. They appealed to the duke to say whether in his
judgment such efforts were likely to prove a success commensurate to
the cost. The old soldier replied:
“Gentlemen, what are your marching orders? Success is not the
question for you to discuss. If I read your orders aright, they run thus,
‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’
Gentlemen, obey your marching orders.”