The business of the sewing machine agent is to talk sewing machines. The business of the fruit vender is to talk fruit. Likewise, the business of the gospel worker is to tell the everlasting good news, and the power of God to save men. Our business as ministers of God is to give ever and always the message of redemption from sin. We to whom the light of this truth has come, are to present this truth to others. That is our business.
The church of the living God is in this world for this very purpose, and we are leaders in the church. We must labor for the salvation of others. We must win souls to Christ. We must lead them out of darkness into the marvelous light of God. We must proclaim the message which God has given to us. We must tell the world of the soon coming of our Saviour, and of the needed preparation in order to meet Him in peace. To this work we have been called. This is our business.
The church must work for others if it would remain alive. This principle we must continually reiterate. A church which shuts itself 4 up to itself, will soon grow cold and freeze to death. A warm church will flow out in loving service to others. We cannot accumulate water in a heap except by freezing. So the church must do aggressive, soul-winning work for others, if it is to grow strong in the Lord. It must have a vision of its mission in the world, and then go forth to seek and to save the lost.
Napoleon once said: "The army which remains in its entrenchments is beaten." He believed in action, in aggressive warfare. This is likewise true of the spiritual realm. A church that is satisfied with its present condition, and spends all its energies upon itself, is a declining church, and will soon pass away.
Our farmers should pray for the Lord to bless their work. They may well pray for the Lord to give them the needed sunshine and rain to ripen the grain, but they should never pray for God to plow their fields for them.
Neither should they sit on the fence and wait to see the furrows turned. Similarly, the children of God should pray for the conversion of sinners. They may well pray that His last message of mercy may be carried to the ends of the earth; but they should not sit down and fold their arms and just wait for God to answer their prayers. They should go to work for others, and the Lord may answer their prayers through them. This we are to make clear to our churches.
By working for others, we ourselves are blessed. The truth becomes sweeter to us as we tell it over again. The more we give away of this message, the more we have left. When we permit the streams of God's blessings to flow through us to others, our own lives are enriched. The plains that furnish the channel for the mountain streams to reach the sea, are made more fertile thereby.
One morning a telegraph clerk, who was under a sense of sin, had to receive and transmit a telegram. To his surprise he spelled out the words: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." The message was not addressed to him, but as he passed it on, he drank in the words. He believed and was saved. So with us. As we transmit to others God's message of life and love, our own souls are nourished and refreshed. Such is the law of spiritual life.
Buenos Aires, Argentina.
