Gazing through the window of a newspaper building, I watched the giant press rolling off the evening News. It is always a thrill to see a great rotary at work. But this afternoon my mind was especially impressed. Two men were standing by that huge creation of master minds, seeing that all was well. One had an oil can and used it with meticulous care. The wheels certainly must be kept oiled. A rotary press that pours forth its hundreds of thousands of printed and folded copies of the latest news needs the care of experts. In minutes these papers would be on the street.
Turning away, I fell into reflective mood. I saw our huge denominational machinery serving a great expansion program. In recent decades it has rushed ahead with leaps and bounds. And should it not? It is God's message to be given by God's men to save God's people in time's last hour!
Then I thought of the round of activity that seems to engulf us as gospel ministers. I began to measure the flow of counsels that pours over a busy pastor's desk. And along with the regular and irregular duties there come, in addition, numerous requests from vital, important, and efficient departments all so needy and necessary.
Then I asked myself solemnly, What am I able to do with the continuous round of must responsibilities that grow daily as a river that overflows its banks? I pondered. Am I so over whelmed with routine duties that I am just "oiling the machinery"? Is oiling the machine enough? A thousand thoughts surged through my mind, for the press had become a sermon to me. And I found myself praying, "God give us the physical strength to care for the necessary routine duties, and added grace to learn the secret of giving more time to the supreme objective of the gospel ministry the saving of souls perishing in sin."
Is not this our greatest and most urgent task in these climactic hours? We must be more than spiritual engineers. Above all things we must be rescuers who can lift men from the sea of sin and plant their feet on the path that leads to God and home.
