p. 18 | Missionary Visiting by Jennie Thayer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Feb 12, 1914

Missionary Visiting

By Jennie Thayer

“To be like Christ and to be with him is the aspiration of every Christian.” In fact, to be a Christian is simply to be Christlike. In order to be like him, we must know what he is like. Fortunately, four records of his life have been left with us, that we may become familiar with every feature of his character and work. From these records, we learn that he came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” This implies an effort on his part to find those who were sick of this life of sin, and lead them to a life of purity and holiness. To this end “he went about doing good.” He was no recluse. He mingled so freely with his fellow men, and so often accepted their hospitality, that he was called “a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” Yet all this while he was about his “Father’s business,” seeking to save humanity; and never for one moment did he lower the standard of his life to that of the world

around him. With the tenderest sympathy and love, he ministered to the physical wants of the multitude, while with the greatest tact he broke to them the bread of life.

We not only have the example of Christ before us as a guide to direct us in our association with our fellow men, but we have direct instruction in regard to our intercourse with them. When he sent forth the twelve apostles, he told them to minister to the physical and spiritual wants of the people as freely as they had been ministered unto, but cautioned them to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” because they were “as sheep in the midst of wolves.”

He has given to every man his work, and as the Father sent him into the world, so also has he sent his disciples into the world, not to live in obscurity, but to be the light of the world, a city set on a hill, which cannot be hid. Unless we become so intimately acquainted with Christ that we reflect his image, we shall not be light bearers to the world around us, and cannot fulfill the mission on which we are sent. Having become acquainted with him, and having him in our hearts, we must so live before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven, or we shall come short of accomplishing our mission.

When the King says to those on his left hand, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” he does not accuse them of any flagrant crimes, but simply of neglect of duty, giving as the reasons of their rejection, “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not,” and adds that “inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.”

It has been said that more individuals will be condemned for sins of omission than for sins of commission; and is there not great danger that this will be the case with us as a people? Are we who claim to have the last message of mercy to a fallen world, doing all we can to bring the light of the truth before others? How many of the rank and file of our people are so engrossed in business and home cares that they have no time to attend to social duties, to show to their neighbors that Christ dwells in them, and that, like him, they are interested in the welfare of those around them?

Some years ago as we entered a railway carriage at a station where one of our largest churches is located, a gentleman on the train said that he formerly resided at that place, and began at once to inquire about the Seventh-day Adventists and the progress of their work. He seemed interested in the progress of their institutions, offered no criticism upon their religious views, but said they were “the most clannish people” whom he had ever known. In proof of this assertion, he gave the fact that he “was sick a whole year” while living among them, and only three members of the church in whose midst he was located ever called upon him.

The apostle James tells us, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

Here is a work in which every one can have a part. Weary mothers and tired home-keepers, whose lives are circumscribed by the four walls in which you live, and who long for a wider field of usefulness, an open door is before you. Call upon your neighbors who are in affliction, alleviate their suffering as far as possible, show them that you sympathize with them, tell them of the love of Christ, that he does not afflict willingly, but for our profit, and point them to the joy of the Christian’s hope. When you have become acquainted with your neighbors, have won their confidence, have shown them by your life that there is a reality in your religion unknown to them, they will desire to learn why you entertain such peculiar religious views. Do not, even then, attempt to bring unpopular truth before them without careful thought and earnest prayer that you may present it in an acceptable manner. Much may be learned by studying the discourses of Christ and the apostles, and noticing the tact which they exercised in adapting the truth to the minds of their hearers.

We are first to sanctify the Lord God in our hearts, and then be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks us a reason of the hope that is in us; but it is to be given with meekness and fear, not with any spirit of controversy or assumption. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you,” is a very forcible illustration of the folly of presenting precious truth to those who do not wish to hear it, and should lead us all to endeavor to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves,” in our missionary efforts, that we bring no reproach upon the cause of truth.

While our object should be to draw those around us to Christ and his truth, great care should be taken that we do not drive them from it by giving prominence to points of doctrine that they are not prepared to receive. The views entertained by our people upon the question of temperance, health, dress, and social purity reforms, furnish topics which, if properly introduced, will not arouse prejudice, but will impart valuable information, and create confidence in our work, thus preparing the way for other views entertained by us as a people to be received with favor. The love of Christ, his sacrifice for us, the privilege he grants fallen humanity of laboring together with him, are inexhaustible themes that cannot fail to interest all who are subjects of his mercy. Go to your neighbors with your heart filled with this love, and their hearts will open to receive you.

“There are many who have no desire to become acquainted with their unbelieving neighbors, and those with whom they come in contact; and they do not feel it their duty to overcome this reluctance. . . . They should remember that they must meet these very men and women in the judgment. Have they left words unsaid that should have been spoken? . . . Have they united discrimination with zeal, heeding the direction of the apostle, ‘Of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh’?”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. V, page 255.

Do we hear you, busy housewife, say, “I have no time for this work”? Then there is need of a temperance reform on your part, which very likely must be brought about by a dress reform, and perhaps by a reform in cookery. Let your adorning not be “that outward adorning.” Dress plainly, live simply, and take time to sit at the feet of Jesus, and enjoy the rest that communion with him brings to the weary soul. Then with light heart and clear brain, go to your overworked neighbors, and give them the benefit of your experience.

Let all who realize that they have not done what they might in the year that is gone, begin at once to reform. Make this year so full of earnest work that should your record close during the year, you will not rise to hear, “Depart,” but, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

JENNIE THAYER.