Page 368 - The Ministry of Healing (1905)

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The Ministry of Healing
God desires us to make use of every opportunity for securing a
preparation for His work. He expects us to put all our energies into
its performance and to keep our hearts alive to its sacredness and its
fearful responsibilities.
Many who are qualified to do excellent work accomplish little
because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they
had no great object for which to live, no high standard to reach. One
reason for this is the low estimate which they place upon themselves.
Christ paid an infinite price for us, and according to the price paid
He desires us to value ourselves.
Be not satisfied with reaching a low standard. We are not what
we might be, or what it is God’s will that we should be. God has
given us reasoning powers, not to remain inactive, or to be perverted
to earthly and sordid pursuits, but that they may be developed to
the utmost, refined, sanctified, ennobled, and used in advancing the
interests of His kingdom.
None should consent to be mere machines, run by another man’s
mind. God has given us ability, to think and to act, and it is by acting
with carefulness, looking to Him for wisdom that you will become
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capable of bearing burdens. Stand in your God-given personality.
Be no other person’s shadow. Expect that the Lord will work in and
by and through you.
Never think that you have learned enough, and that you may now
relax your efforts. The cultivated mind is the measure of the man.
Your education should continue during your lifetime; every day you
should be learning and putting to practical use the knowledge gained.
Remember that in whatever position you may serve you are
revealing motive, developing character. Whatever your work, do it
with exactness, with diligence; overcome the inclination to seek an
easy task.
The same spirit and principles that one brings into the daily labor
will be brought into the whole life. Those who desire a fixed amount
to do and a fixed salary, and who wish to prove an exact fit without
the trouble of adaptation or training, are not the ones whom God
calls to work in His cause. Those who study how to give as little
as possible of their physical, mental, and moral power are not the
workers upon whom He can pour out abundant blessings. Their
example is contagious. Self-interest is the ruling motive. Those who