Quiet Talks on ServiceGordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Religion
Quiet Talks on Service
Gordon, S. D. (Samuel Dickey)
Christian life
A man should reach up _through_ his bodily life, _through_ a keen, strong
intellectual perception and grasp, up into the spirit realm and abide
there. Many a man of splendid ability and earnestness never shakes off his
intellectual scaffolding in the upward building. It remains to hamper and
mar. Through a mastered body, and a disciplined mind, up to the spirit
level is the full swing. Obedience to the clearly discerned voice of
command from the Master is the one pathway of full power.
The third fact was sure to follow these two. It came last. There were
unexpectedly large results. There always will be where the first two facts
are faithfully gotten in.
Saved to Serve.
There is a growth in this message of Jesus. There are four steps up and
out. First comes the plain call to _service: "Launch out_." This is the
ringing service call. It is a familiar word to a follower of Jesus. He was
always saying, "Go ye." To every man He said first of all, "Come." Then,
as quickly as a man came, the word was changed to "go."
I like greatly the motto of the Salvation Army. It must have been born for
those workers in the warm heart of the mother of the Army, Catharine
Booth. That mother explains much of the marvelous power of that
organization. Their motto is, "_Saved to Serve_." Some seem to put the
period in after the first word. That's bad punctuation and worse
Christianity. We are saved to be savers. There is needed the divine Savior
and the human saver. Only he who has been saved can help save somebody
else. The tingle of experience in the blood attracts men.
The Master says, "Launch out." Get down into the thick of the fight. One
should not unwisely wear out his strength. But on the other hand, it's
better to wear out than to rust out. You'll last longer, and any loss of
strength is to be preferred to the loss through yellow, eating rust. A
minister noted for his striking way of putting truth was preaching upon
the words that were spoken of Paul and his companions: "These that have
turned the world upside down are come hither also."[14] He said there were
three points to his sermon: first, the world was wrong side up; second, it
had to be gotten right side up; third, _we're the fellows to do it_. That
is the first note of this message, _we_ are the fellows to do it.
Ambition in Service.
The second step in this ringing call to service is this: _ambition_ in
service. "Launch out _into the deep_." The shore waters are largely
over-fished. Out in the deeps are fish that have never had smell or sight
of bait or net. Here, near shore, the lines get badly tangled sometimes,
and committees have to be appointed to try to untangle the lines and
sweeten up the fishermen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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