A man always thinks more of his work than of his wages. He would never
be content to toil day in and day out but for the thought that somehow
to some one his work was worth while. Neither wages, nor salary, nor
any other cash consideration would of itself be sufficient to satisfy
him. The workman is proud of the product of his hands; his reward is
in that he has made; the good shepherd thinks more of the flock than of
their fleece or his pay.
Satisfaction in work can only come from service rendered. Whether a
man be plowing or preaching, sweeping the streets or building empires,
his work is only worthy if his motive be the good he is doing, the
value of the work itself. We call the man who preaches a minister, a
servant. There is no more honourable title, but it belongs to every
one who seeks to do any worthy work in the world.
The purpose of living is service, therefore the business of religion
must be the cultivation of proficiency in service. The work of
Christianity is to teach men how to be most valuable and useful as
children and parents, as neighbours and citizens, how to make the most
of their lives and to do the most with them. It aims to bring the race
to its highest efficiency.
Religion reveals to man the worth-while object of all his endeavours,
to work as a servant for others. Never was Jesus more glorious than
when He stooped to lift the palsied, to heal the sick, to feed the
hungry. He found His right to rule men by His exercise of the
privilege of serving them. The sheep belong to the good shepherd
because he gives his life to them.
This marks the true follower of the great Teacher to-day; his business
is to serve, he makes living an investment for humanity. He is
commanded to lose his life, to be willing to give up, to sacrifice all
in self-denial, to take his cross and suffer persecution and loss in
this way of walking after his Master.
But he is not told to throw his life away as a worthless thing. He is
to lose it as the seed is lost in the sowing, as the money in the
investing; to sacrifice it as the tool is sacrificed to that which it
is carving. He who would be of real service to the world must
cultivate the best in himself. If living is seed sowing, then the seed
must be good or the harvest will be thin.
True altruism finds right expression first in self-care. It is a man's
business to be strong, healthy, sane, trained, developed; to be the
best kind of a man, complete in all his faculties, that he may have the
more to offer to the service of his fellows. There is no merit in
offering the wrecked body and soured mind. If you are going to give
your life to the world you must make it worth the giving.
Heaven's work demands the finest tools. Nothing is too good for the
service of humanity. There is a good deal more religion in the honest
attempt to make the most of yourself, to keep health, to secure
education and culture, in order that you may have the larger, better,
wealthier self to use in service than in unending ascetic exercises,
prayers, devotions, meditations, mumbling, or visions of things
spiritual.
The only way you can prove the genuineness of your religion is by your
gifts to the children of God, your own brothers about you. There is no
gift that begins to compare in value with a well-trained,
well-equipped, strong and clean life. We cannot all give gold or
lands, or even learning to men, but we can all give lives, and that
which heaven and earth both have a right to expect is that we shall
give the best lives we can.