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The Ministry of Healing
the fire:” and after the fire, God spoke to the prophet by a still, small
voice.
1 Kings 19:11, 12
. So Jesus was to do His work, not by the
overturning of thrones and kingdoms, not with pomp and outward
display, but through speaking to the hearts of men by a life of mercy
and self-sacrifice.
The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. It comes
through the gentleness of the inspiration of His word, through the
inward working of His Spirit, the fellowship of the soul with Him
who is its life. The greatest manifestation of its power is seen in
human nature brought to the perfection of the character of Christ.
The followers of Christ are to be the light of the world; but God
does not bid them make an effort to shine. He does not approve of
any self-satisfied endeavor to display superior goodness. He desires
that their souls shall be imbued with the principles of heaven; then,
as they come in contact with the world, they will reveal the light
that is in them. Their steadfast fidelity in every act of life will be a
means of illumination.
Wealth or high position, costly equipment, architecture or fur-
nishings, are not essential to the advancement of the work of God;
neither are achievements that win applause from men and administer
to vanity. Worldly display, however imposing, is of no value in
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God’s sight. Above the seen and temporal, He values the unseen
and eternal. The former is of worth only as it expresses the latter.
The choicest productions of art possess no beauty that can compare
with the beauty of character, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s
working in the soul.
When God gave His Son to our world, He endowed human beings
with imperishable riches—riches compared with which the treasured
wealth of men since the world began is nothingness. Christ came to
the earth and stood before the children of men with the hoarded love
of eternity, and this is the treasure that, through our connection with
Him, we are to receive, to reveal, and to impart.
Human effort will be efficient in the work of God just according
to the consecrated devotion of the worker—by revealing the power of
the grace of Christ to transform the life. We are to be distinguished
from the world because God has placed His seal upon us, because
He manifests in us His own character of love. Our Redeemer covers
us with His righteousness.