|
|
The Pathway of Safety; or, Counsel to the Awakened By the Right Rev. Ashton Oxenden, D.D. (1808-1892) CHAPTER XVII – USEFULNESS IT is a glorious thing for the Christian that he has found acceptance in Christ, and that he enjoys peace within. But something more is needed. It is not enough for him to have his own salvation assured to him. He must not stop here. There are other important concerns which should interest him. ‘For what purpose was I sent into the world?’ ‘How can I be useful in it?’—these are inquiries which every earnest-hearted servant of Christ will be disposed to make. Whatever our calling in life may be, we may glorify God, and be useful to others. Great things are sometimes accomplished by very feeble instruments. You have probably seen a little Silk-worm. It is a plain, common-looking insect. There is nothing remarkable in its appearance. But it feeds on the mulberry-tree, digests its leaves, and spins from them a delicate silken ball. And this has given rise to a beautiful Persian saying,—‘By patience and perseverance the mulberry-leaf becomes satin.’ Yes, great things may be accomplished by us all, if we have only a ready mind, and an earnest will. The Christian may be useful while he remains here—useful, whatever be his station in life. But you may perhaps be ready to ask— How can I be useful? I will try and show you. 1. By throwing yourself heartily into the ordinary duties of life. You need not go out of your way to find ways of usefulness. God’s work will be best done by a right performance of everyday duties. You are a Master or a Mistress, I will suppose. Well then, take a real interest in the well-being of those about you. Try to make them better men and women for being under your roof. Do little acts of kindness towards them. And where you see that they are wrong, try and lead them into a better way. Let them feel that you are their friend, and not their superior only, and that you would gladly do them any service in your power. Or you may be a Servant. Then do your work, whatever it be, conscientiously; not merely when your employer’s eye is upon you, but when he is absent. Do it, not as unto man, but unto God. If there should be any dishonesty going on in the house, set your face against it; or if any quarrel should arise, try and he a peace-maker. You may be of great use among your fellow-servants. You may set the rest a good example, and so may lead many right. You may be a check upon one, and encourager of another, and you may show kindness to a third. And thus, in your humble position, you may be a blessing to the whole household. Or again, you may be a Farmer or a Tradesperson. In this station, many doors of usefulness will be daily opening themselves to you, if you look out for them. You may influence those about you for good. In your town, or in your parish, there is sure to be some opportunity for making yourself useful. Try and seize such opportunities. Be thoughtful of the wants of others, and ready to advise and assist them in their difficulties. And, at all events, let there be such uprightness and integrity in your whole conduct, as may plainly show that there is within a principle of religion, guiding and directing you. It is not our calling in life that will make us acceptable to God neither is it by leaving our calling that we shall be enabled the better to serve Him. Judas was a minister and an apostle of Christ, but he was a castaway. Herod was a slave, though he sat upon a throne. On the other hand, who will say that the work of that carpenter’s shop at Nazareth was not noble and kingly work indeed; for there was One there who could say amidst all his lowly toil, ‘Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?’ In short, in all the little every-day matters of life try and do as much good as you can. Be ever seeking to get a blessing yourself, and to be a blessing to others, wherever you are. Be a humble light-bearer in the midst of this dark world. 2. By the holiness and consistency of your character. Words often have but little effect however well spoken; but a holy life is a most powerful preacher. Let it be seen by those about you that religion has a firm hold of you; that you are living under its constraining power; and that, in all you do and say, it is the one mainspring that moves you. We little know what a wholesome influence a holy walk may have upon others. The example and influence of a good man may tell upon the lives and conduct of hundreds. For instance, a man may be going to do something wrong. He meets a friend in the street, whom he knows to be a religious person. Not a word may pass between them, and yet the very sight of his neighbor may lead the man to think of better things, and he may change his intention. Have you not sometimes felt, that to be in the company of a holy servant of God only for a few minutes, though not one word may be spoken directly to you, has led you to go away thoughtful? There was something about his Christian bearing, which made you feel self-condemned. Thus, when we little know it, or intend it ourselves, we are continually influencing one another, either for good or for evil. See, then, how useful you may be in your daily walk. You may be in a very humble station of life; you may have little or no learning; you may have no particular gift of speech; and yet you may be a blessing to those among whom you mix. Your light may shine, without your knowing it your life may speak, when your tongue is silent. If you are living to Christ, you are a daily and hourly witness to the fact that there is a power in religion, which can make a man a blessing in this world of sin and sorrow. One of our missionaries bears the following testimony to the good done by the consistent example of one of his Hindu converts:—‘By his uniform consistency, Peter (the name of the convert) had obtained a good report both of the brethren and of strangers. Hindus and Muslims would often tell us, “If all your Christians were like Peter, we would adopt your faith.’’ In his little transactions with the world, his word was as good as his bond. Any tradesman would trust his promise, in cases where he would have required a surety from one of his own creed.’ Oh, that this could be said of all who feel the power of religion in their hearts! But I must now mention another means by which you may be useful. 3. By speaking for Christ. I have shown what quiet, consistent influence may do. But we must not rest there. God has given us tongues, and we must speak for Him. And if the heart be full, it will find vent in words. You should try and persuade others to become the Lord’s servants, while your own happy experience should show them, that His is a delightful service. You know, perhaps, that one of your companions never reads his Bible. Speak to him a word in season on that subject. And be sure that it is in season—that is, when he is likely to receive advice kindly. Or, if there be another whom you never see in church, Endeavour to lead him there by gentle persuasion. Avoid all harsh and reproachful language; or you will, in all probability, defeat your own purpose. Or, if from the lips of a third you occasionally hear an oath, do what you can to check him; speak to him at some time when he is alone, taking care that it shall be when lie is calm, and not when he is excited. Or, it may be you are thrown in with some one who has evidently no serious thoughts about another world. Watch some favorable opportunity for directing his attention to those important matters which concern his soul. But, on all occasions, seize the right moment, if possible, for putting in a word; for the Wise Man says, ‘A word spoken in due season, how good is it!’ And, again, he tells us that ‘a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.’ (Prov. 15.23; 25.11) And always bear this in mind —that kind words go much further than rough ones; that it is easier to lead a man than to force him. Never speak, then, as though you had authority to reprove or exhort; but bear yourself as towards a brother or a sister, with all humility and love. 4. Another means, by which you may be useful, is by seeking some active employment in the Church. Perhaps you can be of use discipling others, or as a Tract Distributor, or as a Visitor to the Sick, or as a Missionary Collector. Propose this to your clergyman; and he will, no doubt, find you work, and be glad to number you among his little laboring band. It is a happy thing to be thus employed; and you may well count it an honor to be engaged in the humblest service for God. If you are a zealous and earnest Churchman, you may be of great use in building up the Church to which you belong. You may be the means of adding new members to it and you may stir up the zeal, and warm the hearts, of your brethren. But, whatever you undertake, let it be done well. Do not begin by being active and zealous, and then grow slack. Let the love of Christ be the mainspring that keeps you at work. Let this be the happy stimulus that urges you steadily on. And may you be able to say with your Lord, ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work.’ (John 4.34) Remember, too, that in all we do, much, very much, depends on our motives. Many an action that has a good appearance, if it be done from an unworthy motive, is by no means pleasing to God, who knows all. ‘If a person, for instance,’ says Bishop Taylor, ‘visits a sick friend, and watches at his pillow for kindness’ and loves sake, he does well; but if he does it in the hope of a legacy, he is a vulture, and only watches for the carcass.’ Or, to take another case; suppose you offer your services to go and collect money for a Missionary Society. If your reason for making the offer is that you earnestly desire to do good, and your heart burns with love towards your poor heathen fellow-creatures, then be sure you have God’s approval, and He will accept your work, and bless it. But if you do it from a wish to get yourself into notice, and to gain the praise of men, then your motive is a wrong one, and what seems to be a good action becomes a positively bad one. Question yourself, then, very closely as to your real object and intention in all you do. And know, to your comfort, that, however little you may do, if only it be done for God, He will acknowledge it. Have you been spending an hour, for instance, in teaching a little child? Have you been performing some deed of charity to a neighbor? Have you paid a visit of kindness to some poor or suffering friend? Then God reckons that hour as given to Him. Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me. (Matt. 25.40) We are all ready enough to allow that the Rich may do a great deal for their neighbors, by giving them money, food, or clothing. And may not the Poor do much also? You may have nothing to offer, but the tear of sympathy or a word of affection. And yet, like the Apostle, you may say, ‘Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee.’ (Acts 3.6) And you are thus pleasing God, and working for Him. 5. I will mention one more way by which we may be useful, namely, by Prayer. Pray much for the work of religion in your Family, in your Parish, in the Church, and in the world at large. Your prayers should not be cramped. It is not merely for yourself that you should be concerned. Your interest should extend beyond your own little circle. You are a member of a great Christian Body, and you should be anxious that that Body may prosper. Your own parish, and your own minister, and your own congregation, of course claim your first concern; but you should feel interested also in the welfare of other parishes, of other ministers, and of other congregations besides your own. And do not stop there. Do what you can to help forward Christ’s kingdom in the world. And pray specially and constantly that God would pour out His Spirit, and bless the efforts of those who are laboring for Him. Who can tell what blessings would come down upon any place or country, if earnest, untiring, believing prayer were daily offered in its behalf. ‘Prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.’ (Mal. 3.10) Now some, if not all, of these ways of usefulness are within your reach. You have talents committed to you: use them to God’s glory. Each one of us has his own allotted post to fill in the Church, and in the World. And happy will it be for you if your little span here is thus usefully employed! ‘There is,’ says a Christian writer, ‘work for all of us. And there is a special work for each—a work which, if I do it not, must be left undone. No one of my fellows can do that particular work for me which I have come into the world to do. He may do a higher work, a greater work; but he cannot do my work for me. I must do it with these hands, or with these lips which God has given me. I may do little, or I may do much; that matters not it must he my own work. The low grass tuft is not the branching elm, nor is it the fragrant rose. But it has a work to do in the arrangements of God, which neither elm nor rose can undertake.’ Another writer makes the following valuable observation:—‘Every Christian will desire to do good in his day and generation. All can do something. There are two vast scales before us all, one for good, and one for evil; one for Christ and one against Him. Our influence must go in one scale or the other. The least and lowest has one grain, at all events, in his hand. Let each see that he throws that grain into the right scale. Every Christian will desire to leave the world a better world than he found it—more godly, more enlightened, more happy. He will desire, if possible, to lessen the amount of evil, and to do his part in clearing some of it away. Let the selfish worldling reck little how the world goes on, and care nothing, if it only lasts his time. The true Christian is of another kind. I believe it behooves a true Christian to take an interest in everything which affects the religion of his Church and country. The mouse in the fable climbed to the top of the box in which he was born, and wondered to see the world so large. I fear there are many Christians very like him; they only look within, at their own little box.’ There are two Christian sayings which I would recommend to your notice:— ‘Live while you live.’ ‘Do what you can while you can.’ Dear reader, seek to live to some purpose. Work ‘while it is day;’ for your day is but a very short one, and then cometh ‘the night, when no man can work.’ Let your humble prayer be, that the world may be somewhat the better, and not the worse, for your stay in it. A Christian minister, whose years were drawing to a close, once said, ‘When I die, I shall have my greatest grief and my greatest joy—my greatest grief, that I have done so little for Jesus; my greatest joy, that He has done so much for me.’ The religion of many Christians has this fault in it—they are too much occupied with self. Their religion mainly consists in a doubting anxiety about their own spiritual safety. This continues week after week, and month after month: and all the while they are perhaps leaving undone some work which God has evidently appointed for them. Indeed, if they were only doing the work, the doubts which harass them would, in all probability, speedily disappear. Who is it that suffers most from fears about his bodily condition? Who is it that is for ever complaining of pains and aches, and is alarmed at every little change in his pulse? Is it the laborer, whose time is well employed from morning till night? Is it the man of business, whose farm or merchandise keeps his hands and head constantly at work? No it is generally the person who has no settled occupation, who has no fixed and definite work to perform. And so it is with Christians: the most constantly and usefully employed are generally the healthiest and strongest Christians. It is those who think they have no work to do for God, and who do none, that are usually distressed with harassing doubts and fears as to their condition. To such I would say, rouse yourselves to some active Christian duty. There is plenty of work to be done, and few ready to do it. Oh it is a happy thing to labor for God; to take some little share in the great work, which He is employing His servants to do! It is true, what we can do is at best but very little. But if that little is done heartily for the Lord, He will graciously own it. He will in mercy pardon what is amiss, and accept our willing service. Happy will it be for us, if we shall hereafter be able to say—not as our blessed Lord said, ‘I have glorified thee on the earth;’ for who among us can hope to say that —but, ‘Lord, it has been my humble aim to glorify Thee on the earth, and to finish the work which thou gave me to do.’ (John 17.4) **************************************************** The Pathway of Safety; or, Counsel to the Awakened, Ashton Oxenden **************************************************** PREVIOUS CHAPTER -- NEXT CHAPTER ©God’sGWG
|