Soul-Winning

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 10, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 40.

It is glorious work. No labor this side of heaven is so full of rich compensations. They who have realized how satisfying it is to toil for Jesus, will never be content with any lower occupation.

But, says one and another, "I can not break through my reserve, and talk to my neighbor about spiritual things." This is the experience of many. The instant that conversation takes a turn toward direct religious topics, bearing on the life and conduct of individuals present, lips are sealed. Christian mothers can not talk to their children. Fathers yearn over their boys, that they may decide to be for the Lord; but they can not ask them a single simple question about it. Friends talk to friends about everything else. The world is full of Christ-loving hearts; but an enchanter's spell is over so many of them that their love does not overflow into speech.

If you love Jesus, and want others to love Him, too, see that you are so sunny, so brave, so full of joy and gladness, that they will look for the motive that lies at the root of your conduct. Do not let it be said of you, even in misunderstanding and partial error, that you are grim, forbidding, morose, and uncourteous. One can be selfish in prayer and devotion as well as in lesser things. To speak glad, bright, inspiring words, to do kind acts in a kind way, to let your life be, to all who feel its force, what the river is to the trees on its banks, and the sparkling rill to the meadow it kisses, will be to take a long step onward in the vocation of winning souls.—Christian at Work.