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Nothing to Do

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 15, 1875

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 3.

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“Nothing to Do.”

“Nothing to do,” said a Christian! one who has seen the exceeding sinfulness of sin, felt himself condemned by the holy law of God, and fleeing to Jesus for help, has found in him the “one able to save.”
“Nothing to do;” and this from the lip of a professed follower of him who through all his earthly life “went about doing good,” and at last gave himself as a ransom for the sins of the world; from one who hopes at last to join the ransomed in the glad cry, “Worthy the Lamb that was slain!” Saved by the suffering and death of Jesus, and yet “nothing to do” for him.
“Nothing to do;” and the world, which God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son to save it still lies in wickedness; and the cries of the oppressed and downtrodden, the sighing of earth’s needy and sorrowing ones, go up from all its wide extent to Heaven.
“Nothing to do” for the Master, whose command to all his disciples is, “Go work to-day in my vineyard.” No cross or bitter trial to be meekly borne; no suffering to be patiently endured because sent by a Father’s hand; no tear to wipe from the eye of suffering; no wandering soul to lead gently to the fold of the Good Shepherd; not “a cup of cold water” even to give to a weary disciple in his name, for his sake and from love to him.
“Nothing to do” in the great work of the world’s evangelization; no part in fulfilling the Saviour’s last command to “preach the gospel to every creature;” no influence to use for the conversion of individual souls; no earnest, agonizing prayers; no effort to bring this lost and ruined world to Jesus; no ignorant souls to instruct in the truths of God’s word; not even one of Christ’s lambs to feed; no loving word to speak for Jesus—“nothing to do” for him.
We cannot conceive, that Christ should rescue a soul from the thralldom of sin, wash and sanctify it in his own precious blood, and yet give it “nothing to do” for him, in return for his unspeakable love! The Christian may have but one talent entrusted to him, but it is given him to be used in the Master’s service, and not to be “hidden in the earth.” Whether the talents given to each one be few or many, the command is the same: “Occupy till I come.”—Irish Evangelist.