Carlyle B. Haynes, President of the Michagan conference, says
"We as ministers of God today should contemplate anew the amazing worth of a day of time. Realizing the importance of our heavenly work and the shortness of time in which to do it, would we not do well to consider seriously whether hundreds of books and papers should not now remain untouched by us; whether many visits and conversations, heretofore engaged in thoughtlessly, would better henceforth be omitted; whether the interests of this world should not attract much less of our attention; whether the blessed Book should not become, more than ever, the one Book of our hearts; whether the conversion and salvation of souls, to the fullest extent possible, should not become our longing desire and strenuous effort; whether it should matter to us where or in what capacity our brief ministry is to be spent; and whether, in fact, all our arrangements should not now be made to contribute as much as possible to the greatest possible usefulness?
"Give thyself wholly," is the divine admonition. Has the time not fully come for the ministers of God to heed this? There is deplorable loss to the cause of God and to us when we give ourselves but partly. If a portion of our time is given to other interests, other delights, other enterprises outside our holy calling; if we dabble in business with a view to earthly gains; or if we spend many hours listlessly, in mental dissipation or in mere trifling; if, in a word, our minds, hearts, and hands are otherwise occupied than with the great things of salvation—then all our deficiencies and weaknesses will be felt among our people throughout the local field and far beyond. That is just as certain as that there is shadow when the sun is obscured, or parched earth and blighted verdure when the rains of heaven fail.
The law of cause and effect, of means and end, operates just as inevitably and exactly in the world of Christian activity and service as elsewhere. A man's ordinary secular affairs are bound to suffer loss in the absence of careful attention and strong devotion. So also in our churches and conferences and institutions, if the minister, pastor, evangelist, or teacher be listless, lazy, or dull; his movements slow, indefinite, or objectless; his sermons dry, tame, indifferent, feeble, or tiresome; his influence for the right slender, sickly, or doubtful; then it is certain that the precious gospel enterprise will suffer great loss so far as his voice is heard and his name is known.
The truth of God is not going to advance under such ministrations. True, there may be a person here and there who, in spite of the minister's unfaithfulness, will hold fast his integrity and go forward with his own devoted activities; but the great majority in the churches will be as weak in faith and effort, as indifferent in their devotion, and as dull in their Christian activities, as their minister. And among those outside the church, there will be little awakening and inquiry after the way of truth, and few will receive the message.
But all of this need not be. The ministry of today can be true leaders of the people of God, completely successful in their great work. It is to this standard that God is now calling us. With the entire dedication of the gospel worker to his one work, his success is certain. That is made sure in the word of God.
