p. 5 | SERVICE FOR CHRIST by Anna Artibee

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 16, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 11.

SERVICE FOR CHRIST.

By Anna Artibee

BY ANNA ARTIBEE.

THE life of Christ was the noblest life ever lived in this world. No king of earth ever attained such splendid, such real, royalty as did He; no hero on battle-field ever did deeds of such inherent greatness as those wrought by the hands of the Carpenter of Nazareth.

And what was the ruling motive of His life? Was it not service? “Not to be ministered unto, but to minister,” was the motto of all His beautiful years. He lived wholly for others, with no thought of self, no miracle performed in the interest of self; and at last He emptied out His very blood in the greatest of all His acts of service.

Shall we not learn from our Lord’s example that the truest life in this world is one of self-forgetting love? “He who neglects love’s duties of service, in Christ’s name, to those who need the ministry of love, can not long enjoy the raptures of worship within the sanctuary,” says a certain author. Devotion is not the end of Christian life. We wait upon God that we may renew our strength for noble service.

We may feed the hungry, visit the sick, minister to the poor, provide for the widow and orphan, and practise generosity. All this is well so far as it goes; but we have not yet reached the greatest of all earthly things, the most important of all the work which a Christian can do. Are we striving to win souls? Are we seeking the lost to bring them to Christ? Saving souls is earth’s greatest and most glorious work.

We must get the spirit of service, and then our lives will be like Christ’s.

Winterfield, Mich.