Quiet Talks on ServiceGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks on Service
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Christian life
The third life is _a life of active service, of aggressive earnestness in
winning men._ I say aggressive. That word does not mean noise and dust,
shuffling of feet, and bustling confusion. It means rather the steady,
steady movement of the sun which noiselessly, dustlessly, moves onward,
hour after hour, day in and day out, regardless of any storms, or
disturbances. It means the quiet, peaceful, but resistless uninterrupted
movement of the moon rising night after night, and going through its
circle of action. Earnestness means the burning of the inner spirit. Its
fires dim not, for they are fed continually from secret sources.
This third life is spoken of directly: "Go ye and make disciples." The
going is to be continued until folks farthest away have heard. Some people
are bounded by the horizon of the town where they live, some by the
particular church to which they belong, some the denomination, some the
state, or even the nation. Jesus fixes the horizon of His follower as that
of the world. Jesus was visionary. He talked about all nations, a race, a
world.
All are to go. They are to go to all. Some may be made wholly free, by
arrangement with their fellow-followers, to give their full strength and
time to the direct going and telling. These are highly favored in
privilege. Some of these may go to deserted darkened places in the home
land. Some may go to the city slum, which in its dire need is of close kin
to the foreign-mission land. These are yet more highly favored in
privilege.
Some may go to those far distant lands where Jesus is not known, where the
need of Him is so pathetically great. These are the most highly favored in
the privilege of service accorded them. Many others have been left free of
the necessity of earning bread and home and clothing and so have a rare
opportunity of devoting themselves to the going, as the Spirit of Jesus
guides. Many are given the talent to earn easily, and so, if they will,
may give much strength to service.
The great majority everywhere and always are absorbed for most of the
waking hours of the day in earning something to eat, and something to
wear, and somewhere to sleep. Yet where there is the warm touch with Jesus
there will come the yearning for purity, and the life of service. With
these as with all there may be the service, strong and sweetly fragrant.
There is always some bit of spare time, with planning, that can be used in
direct service in church, or school, or mission. And the secret life of
prayer will give a steadiness that will guard against the over-use of
one's strength.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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