p. 611 | Be Fervent

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 7, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 39.

Be Fervent.

“FERVENT in spirit, serving the Lord.” This is an apostolic injunction. The Lord's service demands fervor. We should enter upon it and continue in it with all the energy and zeal of our souls. If we are cold and lukewarm about anything, let it be about something of little importance, and not the salvation of our souls. There are many professing Christians who can enter into the pleasures and pursuits of the world with great enthusiasm, and sometimes indulge in the greatest hilarity and demonstrations of interest, but who condemn anything like feeling or exhibitions of warmth and earnestness in the service of God. They think the Lord must be served very quietly and sedately, and if there is a spark of zeal in the soul, it must be suppressed, and the Lord must be worshiped in a stoical manner. Such persons would have been very ill at ease had they been present on the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out upon the people, and they spake in different tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. They would have considered the jailer at Philippi very rude when he sprang in and inquired of the apostles, “What must I do to be saved?”

If a man is arrested by the Holy Spirit, and made to feel that the wrath of God abideth upon him, and that, like the psalmist, the pains of hell have got hold of him, and that unless he obtains mercy he must perish forever, why not take it coolly? Why make a fuss about such a little thing as that? It only involves the salvation of his soul and his eternal happiness! Why not act with becoming propriety? Or if God saves his soul from the guilt and condemnation of his sins, and gives him the assurance of his favor, and makes him an heir of Heaven, what is there in that to make his heart overflow with joy, and to fill his mouth with praise?

The ungodly, and mere nominal Christians, who have never felt the bitterness of repentance and the joy of pardon, cannot understand why such an experience should excite the deepest emotion, and sometimes work men up to the highest pitch of excitement. There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, and why should there not be joy on earth? Men are differently constituted, and manifest their interest in things in different ways, but where they are deeply interested, they will be sure to manifest that interest in some way, and to a corresponding extent. If there is any one thing on earth in which we should feel more interest and manifest more zeal and fervor than another, it is the service of God and the salvation of our souls.—Sel.