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Christian Doing

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 20, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 36.

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Christian Doing

By W. E. HANCOCK

Christian Experience — No. 2

Christian Doing

W. E. HANCOCK
THE dearth of vital Christian experience comes from the fact that we are only trying to imitate, or mimic, the actions of Jesus without learning to be like him. The secret of Christian doing is found in Christlike being.
Jesus went about doing good because he was good; he was great for what he was, and not for what he did. The motive that prompted his great works was love for lost men and women. He was intensely active because he loved profoundly. The benefits of his life and mission among men cannot be measured by the miracles performed, but by what he was then, and is now, to lost men and women. Many would gladly do the wonderful works of Christ, who are not willing to be what he was. He, the Son of man, becomes the greatest of the sons of men because he became the servant of all mankind. It is the spirit of service that ought to permeate the church of God and operate through it to the world.
The church is in danger of allowing the organic part of its activities to absorb much talent and energy that ought to be trained and turned into the direct current of world service. Organization is only a means to an end, but it is easy to make it both the means and the end. The end of all church organization is to bring the gospel in touch with lost men and women. Any part of the organization or its activities which is not effective to this end, is not only surplus, but detrimental to the true mission of the church. Much Christian activity and energy is absorbed in maintaining the machinery of the organization. Many churches are admirably organized, but their activities rotate in a circle within the organization itself, without coming in vital touch with the needs of the world at large.
We need to get a larger view of Jesus Christ. We need to show men and women lost in sin what he is to them, and what he can do for them. Our lives ought to be an object lesson of what Christ can do and is willing to do for human beings. If, by living example, men and women get a true conception of what Jesus really is: if the simplicity and grandeur of his person and character are revealed through his followers; if his great mission to the world is made plain, lost souls will surely be drawn to him to do him homage. But the personal touch must be an essential element in all our service, just as it was in all Christ’s work. We must be continuously in personal touch with God, and constantly in contact with the needy world.
To place emphasis on the idea of Christian being does not lessen the importance of Christian activity. It is only by being truly Christlike that our activities become indeed Christian. Christian doing is an inherent quality of Christian being, just as truly as physical activity is an essential manifestation of animal life. We are bound to work out what Christ is working within. The wise man expresses this thought in the admonition, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Prov. 4:23.
The relation between good works and salvation is well expressed in a Latin proverb which says that good works are “regula retributionis, sed non causa mercedis.” The idea of this proverb is that good works are the measuring rule of our reward, but not the causal ground of our salvation. Each man will be rewarded according to his works, but be saved by faith through the grace of God.
Algeria.