p. 5 | The Practical Life by G. W. White

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 10, 1911

The Practical Life

By G. W. White

G. W. WHITE

“Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.” Mark 5:19.

These are simple words, but they become wonderfully remarkable when we consider the circumstances in which they were spoken. The one to whom they were spoken was a man who had been exceeding fierce, and “had his dwelling among the tombs,” “neither could any man tame him.” His cure was as remarkable as his malady. Jesus passed by; and with one irresistible word the devils were cast out, and the man was healed.

Now, surely, we might reason thus: “The Lord will make much of this case. He will label this man as proof of his mighty power, convert him into a living witness, and take him with him wherever he goes.” The man himself seems to have thought so; for he prayed that he might be permitted to remain with Jesus. He seems to have thought that his experience had lifted him out of the plane of the common life. But instead, the Lord met him with the words: “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee.”

Underlying this simple and direct command is a divine philosophy. In our daily life, we are vitally joined to our fellow men; and if we are to do them any good by the experience of conversion, it must be at the point where we meet them in actual, practical life. This is our place and our opportunity to make our lives tell for God and for our fellows.

We can easily see that some of the early Christians thought that following their conversion something marvelous would occur—that they expected to have a complete translation from their practical life. But the great apostle meets them with these forceful words: “Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.” 1 Cor. 7:24. Your relation to your fellow beings, whether in the shop, in the market, in the home, or in the state, is the very point at which your new life is to gain access to the life of this great world; therefore, “go home to thy friends,” and “let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”

Multitudes To-day Are Puzzled

concerning the boundaries of the religious and the practical life. They are asking: “What is the due proportion of time and thought and affection to give to each? How shall the duties of these separate lives be regulated? If I give myself to the secular life, how will it affect the spiritual, and vice versa? Have I time for both? or must one be given up in proportion as I devote myself to the other? If I am to exert spiritual power upon my fellow men, can I do so and remain in the midst of the activities and interests of practical life?” Now, the fountain from which all such questions spring is a total misunderstanding of our life.

We Have Not Two Lives, but One

Neither have we two sides to our life any more than a ray of light or a current of electricity has two sides. We live; that is all. But multitudes are saying, in act if not in word, My secular life lies yonder in the world. I go down there among earthly things and worldly men, and do about as everybody else does. I adopt the same principles and conduct, the same methods of work and business, and expect the same results. But when I want to be spiritual, when I want to make my spiritual life tell, I withdraw from the world, read my Bible, go to church, and pray and sing hymns. They expect no spiritual results from that secular life in the practical world, but look for large spiritual results from those who are retired, who read, pray, sing, and go to church. One might as well say, I do not expect to accomplish much for my fellow men by my waking, active life, but I do expect to make a tremendous stir by my dreams.

What Is the World to You and to Me?

Is it some great, vague realm of sin outside our own life and experience, where we may go and be worldly, and come up again religious?—No, indeed. The world to you and me, so far as our actual life is concerned, is just our own small circle of daily life. Now, that small circle is our point of contact with the great, busy, bustling world; and so far as you and I are concerned, we must operate upon the world at that point. If we succeed here, we succeed altogether; if we fail here, we fail altogether.

To illustrate: here is a humble, honorable carpenter. Now, the average Christian carpenter says to himself, “My secular life is yonder in my shop. There I work, and make and sell about as others, and follow the same principles and practises as the world. But my spiritual life lies in another place. I must go apart to do my praying, and to receive or impart spiritual nourishment.” So we find him in church, in Sabbath-school, and in prayer-meeting looking after his spiritual interests; then he goes to his so-called other world, and there works, and makes, and sells as other men do, no better and no worse. But the Lord Jesus Christ meets this man in his so-called spiritual realm, and orders him off, saying: “Go home to thy friends,” and Paul follows with the injunction, “Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.”

You Are Joined to the Great World

at the point of your daily life. The principal part of your thought, time, and labor is expended at that one point; and if you are not spiritual there, if you fail to tell for God and righteousness there, you are a failure. There, in your daily occupation, you meet your fellow men, you have opportunity to speak the kind, helpful word, to give the warm, sincere hand-clasp, to extend brotherly sympathy and encouragement, or, it may be, to lend financial aid; and if you fail there, in these things, you fail altogether, and any fine talk you may bring to your fellow men about praying and reading and churchgoing, will be to them as chaff and dust. They will say: “Away with your religion! I needed a kind word, and you had none to give. I needed sympathy and encouragement, and you locked it in your stony heart. I needed a strong arm to lean upon for a little time, but yours was so full of selfishness as to have no place for me. I needed a friend, but with your cloak of self-righteousness drawn closely about you, you shunned me. I needed money with which to buy bread for my little ones, but you had none for me. I needed you. I had a right to expect and to demand help of you at the point where your life touched mine; but at that point you proved false, and you have lost your chance with me.”

And in losing that chance, you lose the opportunity of making a spiritual impression upon, and of wielding a godly influence over, the world.

O, be careful when your life touches another! Be kind, be true-hearted, be Christlike; for as God is true, he will not suffer spiritual power to pass over anything less than that. It was in the practical life that the power of Christ was felt. He never touched a man except to do him good. No one ever appealed to him in vain. His arm of helpfulness never fails.

O, let us faithfully represent Jesus to the world! “Wherever we may be, Christ bids us take up the duty that presents itself. If this is in the home, work willingly and earnestly to make home a pleasant place. If you are a mother, train your children for Christ. This is as verily a work for God as is that of the minister in the pulpit. If your duty is in the kitchen, seek to be a perfect cook. If it is your work to till the soil, or to engage in any other trade or occupation, make a success of the present duty. Let God’s people ‘put on Christ,’ and ‘let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.’”

Omaha, Neb.