USEFULNESS IN THE WORLD.
By J. H. Rogers
We are living in a world where, and at a time when, a broad field of usefulness is opened before us. Then why be idle, especially when “time’s career is closing”? Is it not reasonable that man, who is “made a little lower than the angels,” to whom the whole creation ministers, should live, not for the good of himself, but for others? God has written upon all his works, “Be useful to all around you.” The flowers that sweeten the air, the rain that freshens the earth, the mighty sun which cheers and gives light to all the millions of earth, declare that none of us should live unto ourselves. If we would understand these things, we should find that true enjoyment consists in ministering to the happiness or good of others. We should aim to make all happy and agreeable; we should in some way show ourselves benefactors to our fellow-men. Be useful in the world. Then why complain about life and life’s circumstances? for it is only by contentment we may smooth the way over its roughness; for “The road may be rough, but it cannot be long; I’ll smooth it with hope, and I’ll cheer it with song.”
Dear brother, sister, do not murmur. Complaining is useless; fretting is a sin; to repine shows a lack of confidence and trust in God. Some people are weary of life on account of these things; they show that their hearts are not right toward God on account of his providences. Fault-finding people are an unruly element in society; and the world around them is all a discordant jar. It is so in the family, the school, and the church. How much superior is a cheerful and happy mind! You can never be useful while murmuring and complaining. Others are always “out of sorts.” The weather is always wrong. It don’t suit them, nor can it. It is too wet for this, too dry for that; does not rain when it should, and when it does rain it rains too long. This is the way with not a few persons who vainly imagine they are good Christians, while they are full of murmuring and complaint against the providence of God. They need conversion and the genuine grace of God in their souls. In order to be useful and cast a healthful influence around them, they must cease their murmuring, and try to realize that contentment is a continual feast. Then, again, some seem to act as though there was no real service intended for them. They follow an idle, listless, aimless, go-easy sort of life. God did not intend us to rust out, but to be useful in the world. We have a work to perform; and “cheerful activity” should be the motto. There is something to do in order to be a worthy citizen in this world. We owe a great deal to the community in which we live, to the church and the world at large. He who does nothing is a cipher, has not answered the great object for which he was sent into the world—is a mere blank in creation. “This life to toil is given;
And he improves it best,
Who seeks by patient labor
To enter into rest.”