Then be sure that to its last particle you are using the strength you
have, ere you complain of not having enough for your tasks. Take heed
of the vagrant expectations that wait for they know not what, and the
apparent prayers that are really substitutes for possible service. 'Why
liest thou on thy face? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go
forward.'
The Church's resources are sufficient for the Church's work, if the
resources are used. We are tempted to doubt it, by reason of our
experience of failure and our consciousness of weakness. We are more
than ever tempted to doubt it to-day, when so many wise men are telling
us that our Christ is a phantom, our God a stream of tendency, our
Gospel a decaying error, our hope for the world a dream, and our work
in the world done. We stand before our Master with doubtful hearts,
and, as we look along the ranks sitting there on the green grass, and
then at the poor provisions which make all our store, we are sometimes
tempted almost to think that He errs when He says with that strange
calmness of His, 'They need not depart, give ye them to eat.' But go
out among the crowds and give confidently what you have, and you will
find that you have enough and to spare. If ever our stores seem
inadequate, it is because they are reckoned up by sense, which takes
cognizance of the visible, instead of by faith which beholds the real.
Certainly five loaves and two small fishes are not enough, but are not
five loaves and two small fishes and a miracle-working hand behind
them, enough? It is poor calculation that leaves out Christ from the
estimate of our forces. The weakest man and Jesus to back him are more
than all antagonism, more than sufficient for all duty. Be not seduced
into doubt of your power, or of your success, by others' sneers, or by
your own faint-heartedness. The confidence of ability is ability.
'Screw your courage to the sticking place,' and you will _not_
fail--and see to it that you use the resources you have, as good
stewards of the manifold grace of God. 'Put on _thy_ strength, O Zion.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account