Doing | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 22, 1872

Doing.

THERE are many people who are wise in counseling others, but themselves often fail to perform their own counsels. It is easier to counsel than to do. Many people talk much of what other people should do, but fail to do much themselves. It is easier to talk than to do.

I have known ministers who preach to others how to obtain the grace that would sustain them in the hour of trial, but themselves have fainted beneath the burden. It is easier to preach than to do.

I have heard of military officers who were brave in commanding others, but were missing on the battle field. It is easier to command than to fight.

All that is noble, or pure, or lovely, all, whether great or small, to which we should look for counsel, or guidance, or wisdom, teach us that we have not a moment of wakeful life to spend in laziness or misdirected effort. The great lesson taught is, we should be doing. God is doing. Christ is doing. The Holy Spirit is doing. Good angels are doing; and how grand, blessed, and lovely the mighty work. Devils are doing, winds are doing, floods are doing, fires are doing, earthquakes are doing, electric forces are doing, disease is doing, death is doing, love is doing, hate is doing, righteousness is doing, sin is doing.

Without doing, all noble graces cease to be. Of what avail is it for the farmer to believe he shall reap a harvest in the autumn, if he sows not in the springtime? Of what avail would it be for the mechanic to believe he could build a house if he did nothing? Of what avail would it be for an editor to believe he could publish a paper if he did nothing? Of what avail would it be for a man or woman to believe they shall finally reach and rest in God, and home, and Heaven, if they do nothing? Of what avail would it be for the wife to say she loved her husband, if she never did anything for him? Of what avail would it be for parents to say they love their children, if they do nothing for them? Of what avail is it for a man to say he loves God, if he never does anything for him? This is the love of God, that ye keep his commandments. All animate beings, all reason and conscience teach us that we should be doing. Doing for God. Doing for Heaven. Doing for a starry crown. Doing for humanity. Doing for the lost. Doing so far as we can, by the assistance of Divine grace, to right the wrongs, to comfort the afflicted, to lift up the bowed down, to whisper words of hope to the discouraged, to clothe the naked, to feed the starving, and do it for Christ’s sake.

Do for God, for the days are evil. Sin abounds. Love grows cold. Every agent of sin is hard at work. This demands earnest labor of the Christian to roll back sin’s tide and save some. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might, for there is no wisdom, or knowledge, or device in the grave, whither thou goest.” Do valiantly, that when the Master comes he may say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”—Domestic Journal.