p. 14 | Reliable People

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 27, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 38.

Reliable People

THERE is doubtless a great deal of worldly success won by men who are not reliable as far as righteousness goes. But such success has its drawbacks. It works for a while, but is apt to break down like an unreliable engine. The unscrupulous man gains power or position, but not the respect of the better elements of the community; and in the long run, his life breaks down. Every town, every city, every nation rests on the shoulders of the reliable people in its borders. They may not be its most prominent or most wealthy citizens, but they are its absolutely necessary ones. The individual who determines to be reliable, determines thereby to be valuable to all around him.

"How did he come to be the head of the concern?" was asked about a peculiarly quiet man who forged to the front in a growing business. "Why, it was this way," was the reply: "all anybody had to do, in case of things going wrong, was to refer matters to him. He was always attentive, always cleared up the tangles, always could answer questions, always was ready to do more than he was expected to do. He was not ambitious; he did not want the head place especially; but what was the use of making anybody else the head when we had him?" His reliability made every one depend upon him, and he became head in title because he was first the head in fact.

As one follows up reliability one finds how it includes and accompanies other fine traits of character. In its best form it is always unselfish, usually humble, and allied with a true sense of honor. Reliable people are apt to be harder on themselves than on others, and given to bearing other folks' burdens for them. Patience becomes second nature to the reliable soul, and so do sincerity and neighborly kindness. On the other hand, to be unreliable is never a fault of character that exists alone. It means self-indulgence or disloyalty or shirking or insincerity. The unreliable fall to the rear of life, and deserve it. The "blessed company of faithful people" are the ranks of the advance, and to march among them is to find life worth living.—Great Thoughts,