Serving Our King by Mrs. L. Flora Plummer

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 2, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 30.

Serving Our King

By Mrs. L. Flora Plummer

It is said that in the mines of Siberia there are persons who were born there, and have never seen the light of the sun. They have never known anything but the dimly-lighted mines and the coldness and darkness of their cavern home. In one way their condition is no more pitiful than is that of one who lives in the brilliant light of God's love and amidst the warmth and cheer of the blessings of the Gospel, yet whose vision is so narrow that he is unable to perceive the privileges of divine grace so freely bestowed.

God's plans for His people have always included the youth and children. When Pharaoh asked, "Who are they that shall go?" Moses, divinely inspired, answered, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters." In these latter days, the people of God are just as truly called out from the world's pleasures and the world's work as the Israelites were called out from the thraldom of Egyptian taskmasters. And now, as then, the call includes the sons and daughters.

The response to the call of God does not necessarily mean a display of wonderfully brilliant talents, the doing of marvelously great things; for the work given to each of the servants of God is never far-off, or too high or great to be attained. In many cases it is the faithful doing of "the simple round of duties which the passing hours bring." "No ministry is more pleasing to the Master than that of cheery and hearty faithfulness to lowly duty, when there is no pen to write its history, nor any voice to proclaim its praise." It is in the doing of the commonest duties, that we gain our victories or suffer our defeats.

A great source of discouragement to many is their environment. Not long ago I heard a young man say, "If only I could choose my surroundings, I could work faithfully for the Lord." Many have the feeling that if they were anywhere else but just where they are, their personal difficulties would not be so great. Environment is always to be reckoned with, but it can never serve as an excuse for failure, or be given as explanation of the successes of those who have conquered difficulties and made opportunities. To adjust ourselves to conditions, to set ourselves to the tasks nearest at hand, to sail against a contrary wind, to overcome the preferences and prejudices of a selfish nature, — these are the things the follower of Christ must learn.

Some one has said of worldly enterprises, that to make a success of anything, "one

must grasp the situation with all the vigor of his being, with all the energy he can muster, and stick and hang and dig and save." It is true that such effort is the cost of any worthy achievement, and there is no lower price. One can not hope to become a Christian workman who need not be ashamed if he devotes less energy, less determination, less consecration of heart, less loyalty and devotion, than do they who run in the race for the wealth, the pleasure, the fame, or the power which the world offers.