God not only imparts to us strength according to our days, but He also gives us opportunities, whether we recognize them or not, that are precisely adapted to our capacity. “A man’s gift maketh room for him.” Prov. 18:16. If we have but small opportunities, it is because God cannot safely trust us with greater ones. The common notion that some one is hedging up our opportunities is altogether a delusion of the devil. Thousands of people go through the world so blindfolded that they fail to recognize the marvelous opportunities with which God is surrounding them, yet they are all the time longing to do some great thing; and because they cannot do this, they are not willing to do that which the Lord does give them an opportunity to do.
Some argue, “It is utterly useless to try to help So-and-so. If I had some promising cases to deal with, I would try to help them;” but if God brings us in contact with only unpromising cases, it is because He knows that we have not yet learned how properly to co-operate with Him in saving the promising cases, even if He should give us a chance; so He permits us to work only on unpromising material until we shall have been trained sufficiently to make it safe for Him to trust us with those who can be saved.
In order for us to know whether we have any opportunities to do good among our associates, it is necessary for us to come very close to them. This will require divine tact and wisdom. We have been admonished that “we should not try to see how different we can be from others, but how near we can come to those whom we wish to influence, that we may help them to the position we ourselves so highly prize. Such a course will commend the truths we hold.”
There are many who seem to think that if they agree with another, even on points that are truths, they will thereby compromise their own position. On this point the following quotations are certainly helpful: “In order to reach those who are in the darkness of error and false theories, we must approach them with the utmost caution, and with the greatest wisdom, agreeing with them on every point that we can conscientiously.” “Agree with every one on every subject you can. Admit it when he is right; for the acknowledgment will greatly help to draw him nearer to you. He will then have no occasion to think you consider your own opinions infallible, or that you look upon him with contempt.” “Agree with the people on every point where you can consistently do so. Let them see that you love their souls, and want to be in harmony with them so far as possible.”
Christ came close to the people. He not only enjoyed himself at the simple wedding gathering of his friends, but He also felt perfectly at home at the festal board of the publican; but He went to neither place simply to indulge His appetite or to let himself down to a cheap level. It has been said of Him that He “reproved self-indulgence in all its forms, yet He was social in His nature. He accepted the hospitality of all classes, visiting the homes of the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, and seeking to elevate their thoughts from questions of commonplace life to those things that are spiritual and eternal. He gave no license to dissipation, and no shadow of worldly levity marred His conduct; yet He found pleasure in scenes of innocent happiness, and by His presence sanctioned the social gathering.”
How many have tried to have a sweet, wholesome social gathering in their house, to which some of the people in the neighborhood could be invited and be made to feel at home? The importance of this is emphasized in these words: “We are not to renounce social communion. We should not seclude ourselves from others. Through the social relations Christianity comes in contact with the world.” “Social power, sanctioned by the grace of Christ, must be improved in winning souls for the Saviour.” When these social gatherings, however, are characterized by the spirit indicated in the following quotation we may be sure they are fitting no one for translation: “To encourage an unbecoming familiarity in the association of men and women, boys and girls, under the pretext of seeking conversion and sanctification, is to foster an evil whose influence is of the worst character.”
There are some who think that because we have a truth which should make us intensely in earnest, it is a virtue to go with the head bowed down like a bulrush. Such sadness suggests that the more holy we become, the more miserable we are. Let such draw a lesson from the following quotation: “Let those who are striving for the glorious inheritance with the saints in light, not present a forbidding, cold, unsympathetic aspect. Let them not act in such a way as will lead the youth to avoid their society.”
A genuine personal interest in others, combined with a true sympathy, will marvelously assist us in helping them. We are told that “Jesus met the people at their daily vocations, and manifested an interest in their daily affairs. He carried His instruction into the household, bringing families in their own homes under the influence of His divine presence. His strong personal sympathy helped to win hearts.”
There are many excellent people who are saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus;” but the feeble, waning piety, the church trials, the lack of Christian courtesy and sympathy, the broad condemnation of other professed Christians, have been such as to impress them unfavorably with the glorious truth which God has committed to us in this generation. It has been pointed out that “God has jewels in all the churches, and it is not for us to make sweeping denunciations of the professed religious world, but in humility and love, present to all the truth as it is in Jesus.”
There are thousands of people outside our ranks who have not yet had a chance to accept precious light which has been given us in such abundance, as the following quotation clearly brings out: “Many outside the ranks of Sabbathkeepers, who have not had the light, give more promise of becoming children of God, joint heirs with Jesus, than do those who have had the light of truth, and who have not appreciated it, but have walked in the sparks of their own kindling.”
But we are not simply to be good; we must be inspired from above actually to do good. Our sisters everywhere ought to let the suggestion contained in the following quotation sink deep into their hearts: “Let them be prepared to attend mothers’ meetings, or other meetings in which they can speak words for the Master. But enter into no opposition, create no controversy.” It will be useless to read papers in mothers’ meetings unless these papers are filled with good, wholesome instruction for mothers. Those mothers who themselves are bringing up a well-ordered family, and so have learned from the Master how to keep the spirit of wrangling and controversy out of their own homes, will not be likely to introduce a spirit of opposition and controversy in one of the outside churches if God should open the way for them to read papers there.
While it may not be our duty to link up with other temperance organizations, yet much good has come to humanity from the educational efforts of these good people; and we have lost many opportunities to do good by neglecting to hold out a helping hand to those who are leading out in these movements, and to encourage temperance work more with voice and pen, as the following quotation clearly indicates: “In other churches there are Christians who are standing in defense of the principles of temperance. We should seek to come near to these workers, and make a way for them to stand shoulder to shoulder with us. We should call upon great and good men to second our efforts to save that which is lost.” —“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, page 110.
We cannot expect these people to stand shoulder to shoulder with us unless we have studied this subject so thoroughly that we are able to present it in a clear and lucid manner. We should do definite work, and bring people to a positive decision on the temperance question. From the following suggestion it is evident that we have only begun to take hold of the temperance movement: “We should present to the people the principles of true temperance, and call for signers to the temperance pledge. Careful attention should be given to those who are enslaved by evil habits. We must lead them to the cross of Christ.” —Id.
Persons who possess a rare tact, coupled with a deep Christian experience, should, as the way opens, attend meetings in other churches, and by the fragrance which Christ has put into their lives, win their way to human hearts. The day of the Lord alone will reveal how many good opportunities we have lost because we have failed to act on the following suggestion: “Let some of the workers attend religious gatherings in other churches, and as there is opportunity, take part in them.” —Id., page 75. There are various more or less imperfect organizations for young people, yet they have undoubtedly saved thousands from going to destruction. We may not approve of all their methods, yet the Lord knows that we have been very slow in organizing anything, even among our own youth, to say nothing of the thousands of young people about us to whom we owe an almost equal obligation. Since we have done so little, let us be slow to condemn the feeble efforts others are putting forth in that direction.
May the Lord deliver us entirely from condemning and judging the motives of those men and women who are attempting in various ways to make the world better, even if they fall far short of reaching their ideal. We ought to be helping every such movement, encouraging every such part of it as we know to be good, and be slow to condemn or criticise that which does not meet our approval. Upon this point we have recently been told that “judicious young men should be encouraged to attend the meetings of the Young Men’s Christian Association, not for the sake of contention, but to search the Scriptures with them and suggest helpful questions.”
Undoubtedly there will be some who, instead of carrying out this instruction in the spirit that it intends, will stir up a spirit of contention. We should have nothing to do with condemning the world, nor should we dwell particularly on its errors. We are to lift up the truth, but we are not to present it under such circumstances as is mentioned in the preceding quotations any faster than God helps us to create an appetite in others for it. We have no right, unless God especially lays the burden upon us, to create a controversy or dissension, and this is especially true when attending meetings that are held under the supervision of others. It is not right for us to take advantage of such occasions to raise disputed questions, for the cause of truth is rarely advanced in the least by so doing. We expect others to accord us this courtesy when they visit our meetings, and they have a right to expect the same from us. There are proper times and places for us to unfold the great truths that have caused us to differ so largely from the great religious bodies about us.
