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Our Father’s Business, November 12
And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick
people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which
were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that
had the palsy; and he healed them.
Matthew 4:24
.
Christ’s life was one of constant self-sacrifice. His work was not confined to
any time or place. It was bounded only by His love and sympathy for the souls for
whom He was soon to give His life. His compassion knew no limit. On so large a
scale did He conduct His work of healing and teaching, that there was no building
in Palestine large enough to hold the multitudes that thronged to Him. In every
town and village through which He passed was to be found His hospital. On the
hillsides of Galilee, in the great thoroughfares of travel, on the seashore, in the
synagogues, in every place where there were hearts ready to hear His message,
Jesus healed the people and pointed them to their heavenly Father. In the evening,
after the hours of toil were over, He talked with those who through the day must
work to earn a pittance for the support of their families.
If we only realized how earnestly Jesus worked to sow the world with the
gospel seed, we would ... labor untiringly to give the bread of life to perishing
souls....
Catch the spirit of the great Master-Worker. Learn from the Friend of sinners
how to minister to sin-sick souls. His heart was ever touched with human woe.
Why are we so cold and indifferent? Why are our hearts so unimpressible? Christ
placed Himself on the altar of service, a living sacrifice. Why are we so unwilling
to give ourselves to the work to which He consecrated His life? Something must
be done to cure the terrible indifference that has taken hold upon us. Let us bow
our heads in humiliation as we see how much less we have done than we might
have done to sow the seeds of truth.
When we are converted, our desire for ease and elegance will be changed.
Christ brought His desires and wishes into strict abeyance to His mission—the
mission that bore the insignia of heaven. He made everything subordinate to the
great work that He came to this world to accomplish in behalf of the fallen race.
When in His youth His mother found Him in the school of the rabbis, and said
to Him, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have
sought thee sorrowing,” He answered, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not
that I must be about my Father’s business?” (
Luke 2:48, 49
).—
Manuscript 147,
November 12, 1902
, “An Appeal for More Effort.”
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