In one of his letters John speaks of those who for the sake of the Name
went forth, taking nothing of the Gentiles. He was thinking of the
already growing army of heralds of that Name which is above every name.
Probably, too, he was remembering that day by the Sea of Tiberius when
Jesus came by and he heard and answered the challenge to life’s
highest adventure.
No one should offer his life for special Christian service merely because
he thinks it would be nice work to do, nor because it has been done by
someone he likes or admires, nor because someone he would like to please
wishes him to do it, nor because he thinks he can speak well or has an
attractive personality for social contacts, nor because he thinks it will
serve him as a stepping stone to something else. To begin on any such a
basis means to be doomed to failure from the beginning. It also means
injustice to the work itself.
Least of all should one enter special Christian service because he thinks
it easy. That is one of the greatest possible mistakes. Whoever goes out
to serve Christ must prepare his soul to endure hardness as a good
soldier. He will discover that it is a real warfare into which he is
going. If he likes the thrill of adventure, if he enjoys doing difficult
things, if privation appeals to him, if he does not mind standing up to
duty in the face of opposition and danger, then he will like soldiering
for Christ. Otherwise, he will not.
Only one thing should lead one to dedicate his life to Christian work. It
is the great compulsion. One has it when he is conscious that he cannot do
anything else and be quite content. That was the feeling that drove Moses
to the end of the wanderings of his people, that sent Jeremiah to thunder
the warning to a nation drifting to its ruin, and that impelled Jesus to
the tears of Gethsemane and the anguish of Calvary.
The person who does not find it in his soul to give his life wholly to
Jesus is to be congratulated. He will pluck many thorns, but each thorn
will bear a rose. He will travel many hard paths, but he will have the
joyous consciousness of being a world builder for God.