p. 23 | Sowing for Success by C. F. McVAGH

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 6, 1906

Sowing for Success

By C. F. McVAGH

The Bible teaches, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Therefore it behooves every young person to look well to his sowing. Success does not come by chance, but is the result of steadily applied, well-directed effort. Education, being primarily the development of our faculties of body and mind, is certainly a prime factor in sowing for success.

At this juncture let me suggest the following questions: Have you a purpose in life? Are you willing to shake off the timidity and laziness that doth so easily beset, and steadily, determinedly strive toward that definite object? The wise man says, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.” It is said that an ancient warrior, worn and discouraged, learned perseverance that made him a conqueror by observing the efforts of a little ant in dragging a grain of corn larger than itself up a high wall. Though it tumbled scores of times, yet by a persistency that put to shame the dispirited man, it finally reached the top. Is your education to end this side of the grave, or is it to go on into eternity?

“The applause of men can accompany you only to the grave.” The poet has well said, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” An American multi-millionaire a few days prior to his death thus tersely expressed the unsatisfactory results of a self-centered life: “I am accounted of men to have attained a fair share of this world’s goods. It has cost me anxious days and sleepless nights, and I have had my board and my clothes.” A training which tends to that kind of success may be obtained almost anywhere in this land of free schools. But knowledge and skill, while essential to success, are only steps. Peter, in his famous ladder, puts faith and virtue before knowledge, and truly knowledge that does not tend to eternal life is no permanent advantage. “This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Such an education can be obtained only where the truth is known and taught.

It is important that parents and youth consider these things, that they may judge between schools and schools, and put forth the extra effort that may be required to secure an education in our denominational schools. Obstacles that can be overcome only by sacrifice and hard work are not to be classed as hindrances. Many a man has climbed to a place and influence which he might never have reached had not the circumstances surrounding him in youth compelled hard work and sacrifice. And the sons of successful men often fall for lack of necessary discipline. The young man who goes to school on some other person’s money, having his every want supplied without effort, may succeed, but in the majority of cases he will be outstripped by his classmate who has to dig every spare moment to supply the bare necessities of life. God in his love and wisdom has permitted thorns and thistles to grow in this world of sin for man’s sake. Those who have attained to usefulness and responsibility in the work of God are quite generally those who have climbed by surmounting difficulties that others were unwilling to attempt. A very important part of a Christian education is the cultivation of faith to undertake great things for God, and to know that while without him we can do nothing, we can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth us.

The best help is help to help one’s self. Anything else is likely to prove more of a hindrance than a help. The boy who is making a success of something within his sphere thereby gives promise of success in larger things if given a chance. Men of means and discernment in our churches can render no better service than by encouraging in a substantial way boys and girls who are willing to work. By selling our good books and periodicals many have obtained the very experience they needed, and at the same time have earned the money to help them through school; and others can do the same. Some men of more mature years who have a trade can, by economy and industry, supply the lack of early education in a Christian school. The writer has in mind a brick mason past twenty-five years of age who has demonstrated this.

The cause always needs more young men and women who have demonstrated that they have push enough to make a success of something. Conference committees are rightly skeptical about the call to preach of a man who has never made a success of anything else. The individual who is called of God to give his entire time to the work of the ministry will be found in active missionary work and usefulness in his present sphere; otherwise his recognition as a conference laborer would only prove a detriment to himself and to the conference. God needs just what our good industrial schools are designed to provide; namely, young men and women who know the Lord, trained in body and mind to usefulness, willing to bear burdens and endure hardness as good soldiers, who can adapt themselves to the conditions and requirements of the different fields of his great vineyard.

C. F. McVAGH.