Practical Thoughts on Scripture Subjects.
By John Nevins Andrews
MINISTERS OF CHRIST MUST BEHAVE WITH PRUDENCE.
It is not enough that a Christian minister should be a man of a pure heart, and of a virtuous life. He must be a man who is careful of his entire deportment. Not a man, however, to put on ministerial airs, and to make a show of his own dignity. But he must be a man who is circumspect in his ways, and not capable of creating an evil impression by his unguarded and foolish conduct. Such a man is to be esteemed as a model worthy of imitation. OUR PATIENCE MUST BE TRIED.
It is not pleasant to meet with perplexities, and trials, and disappointments. But these are inevitable, and must be endured. Indeed, they must come for our good. Therefore let us meet them with cheerful submission, and God will cause them to greatly profit us. God will help us if we seek help from him. When God gives light it is that we may obey and cherish it. If we do not follow it, we shall be left in darkness. Our only hope is that the rays of heavenly light will not leave us. If we do not disobey the heavenly instruction of the Spirit of God, we shall not be left in darkness. God pities us in our low estate, and is not willing that we should perish. Yet it is an easy thing to enter into the dark. How soon the light in us will expire when we fail to cherish it. And how sad the case of those who thus find themselves left in their own blindness and to the deceptions of the devil. The Spirit of God is all light, and the spirit of Satan is all darkness. What an awful condition we are in when we mistake the one for the other. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” Our work is urgent and time is short. Nevertheless we must always take time to consider with careful deliberation every question of importance that involves any just ground of doubt. It is our duty to know that every step is taken in God. But those who walk in a rash, hasty spirit, cannot stand in God’s counsel, and will always be involving themselves in the snare of the devil. It is something that the grace of God will subdue in every one of us if we will drink into its peaceful and heavenly temper. It is the cause of many of the troubles now existing in the church everywhere. When we have fully died to self, we shall learn to live in the peaceful atmosphere of the Holy Spirit. It is easy to err from the right path. It is a work of pain and of time to return to the right. We may, by carelessness, wander far from God. But it will only be by carefulness and zeal and humiliation that we can return to the right. Let us beware of departing from God. It is not a light thing to do it, nor a small matter to recover from the evil when once we have fallen into it. It is easier to shun sin than to recover from its power.