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Seasonable Thoughts

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International Tract and Missionary Society · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Feb 4, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 5.

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Seasonable Thoughts.

By J. F. Avery

THE blessings of the past year, and the mercy of the present, and the opportunities of the future, should stir our hearts in thankfulness to Him who was, and is, and is to come. He came, bringing peace and good will to men, at great cost and price. He is coming again without sin, the victorious King, to judge his enemies and reward his servants. Now is the accepted time of salvation, the day of peace wherein we can work and fulfill his will and the great purpose of sparing mercy.
Do I live the gospel? Am I a living epistle known and read of all men? Do I so love and live that men take knowledge of me? What have I done in years past for Jesus? What am I planning to do for 1886? How much do I deny self to spread the saving knowledge of peace on earth, good will to men, among the nations afar off?
Take a pen, sit down, calculate, write quickly how much thou owest, then what thou has paid my Lord. Subtract, and then ponder the question, Will a man rob God? Have we brought in all the tithes, and honored God with our substance? Do we believe that whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, and that the liberal soul shall be made fat, while the sparing hand shall find and reap a scant harvest in the end of the world?
The disciples had to begin at Jerusalem, where Jesus died, making it the center of gospel geography. To-day we rejoice in the success of missions. Who can question the secret power by which such wondrous results were accomplished; namely, "The presence of a living, sympathetic Christ." Contrast the past with the present condition of the world with respect to missions, it proves that practically all the world is now open to the missionary. This plenteous harvest means increased responsibility to the laborers and to Christians everywhere. Past success should fill our souls with holy enthusiasm, and lead to faithful continuance in well doing.—J. F. Avery.