“Your life is hid” (Col. iii. 3).
Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can
tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their
labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem
to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can
scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like
ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work
of the church except as her hidden Life and ascended Head, and even the
Holy Spirit is lost in the vessels that He uses. The vine does not bear
the fruit, and even the sap is unseen in its ceaseless flow, and it is the
little branches which bear all the clusters and seem to have all the honor
of the vintage. And so the nearer we come to Christ the more we are
willing to be lost sight of in our fruit, and let others be more
prominent, while we are the glad and willing witnesses of our testimony
and hold up their hands by the silent ministry of love and prayer. Lord,
let me be like the veiled seraphim before the throne, who cover their
faces and their feet, and hide themselves and their service while they fly
to obey Thee.