GIVING UP TOO SOON
To persevere in soul winning is not difficult so long as we get a
response from the person for whom we work. But when the way gets rough and it looks as if a decision is to be long delayed, or never made at all, it is so easy to decide that we are wasting our time. Would this person make a good Adventist anyway? Why spend our time on poor material? Why try to build with poor timber?
Modern business reasoning might suggest that the shepherd who loses only one sheep out of a hundred has made a pretty good record. Excellent, in fact. And why bother with going after the one? It would be more economical to buy another sheep. His time is worth more than the price of several sheep.
God forbid that we should ever forget the value of the individual soul. May, we never be guilty of feeling that another sheep, or ten other sheep, can substitute for the one that is lost. What a tragedy if in the judgment some lost soul should accuse you or me of leaving him to die because we could raise our goals more easily by working with those more quick to respond!
We call attention to the article on page 9 of this issue, in which N. F. Brewer deals pointedly with this matter of our work for former church members.
And we would like to bring into sharp focus this statement from the servant of the Lord: "We are to present the word of life to those whom we may judge to be as hopeless subjects as if they were in their graves. "khough they may seem to be unwilling to hear or tor receive the light of truth, without questioning or wavering we are to do our part."—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 442. (Italics supplied.)
R. A. A.
VISUAL-AID OUR evangelists are always on
SUGGESTION the lookout for ideas to illus-
trate truth. If you did not notice it, we would suggest you glance at the rather unusual idea featured on pages 23 and 24 of the Sabbath School Worker for October, 1955.
Although this illustration is designed to teach the ministry of angels, the ingenious evangelist or Bible instructor will be able to readily adapt it to other subjects, such as Christ and Satan contending for the lives of individuals, as well as other spiritual truths. Users of black light may also get a suggestion here.
In these days of spiritual ignorance we need everything that can be legitimately used to convey the truth to minds. It was said of Jesus, "Without
a parable spake he not unto them." B. a.
ENTHUSIASM "MANY a great movement has
slowed down because it has failed to grip the imagination and to enlist the enthusiasm of the rank and file." So wrote Madame Chiang Kai-shek in the Missionary Review of the World some years ago.
History testifies to the truthfulness of this statement. Not only have movements slowed down, but some have died because of a lack of spiritual enthusiasm on the part of their adherents.
No worthy movement can grow and prosper as it should without enthusiasm. If the Advent Movement is to stir and to move the world, it must be fired with a consecrated enthusiasm. And if the rank and file are to be on fire for God, the ministry must first of all be on fire.
In Prophets and Kings, page 263, we read: "In proportion to the enthusiasm and perseverance with which the work is carried forward, will be the success given." In other words, no enthusiasm, no success; little enthusiasm, little success; much enthusiasm, much success.
When the disciples saw Jesus in action they remembered it was written of Him, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."
God grant that the ministry of the Advent Movement may be set on fire anew with a holy zeal, a divine enthusiasm for God in the finishing of His
work. A. V. O.
SHARING "LET him get his ideas like I got
mine" is a philosophy so seldom heard these days that those who hold it may be accurately labeled a "vanishing breed." But at times much is still lost to the work of God by the refusal to share one's methods!
Moguls of the automotive industry guard their plans with justification, for they are in competition. But ours is a common cause. There can be no justifiable motivation for secrecy. Heaven-sent ideas should enjoy the widest possible circulation. Satisfaction, not jealousy, is the portion of one who unselfishly shares his method with another. And praise be to God when the resultant fruitage of another is greater than our own.
It is in this area of human relations that character is tested. When we pray, "Lord, bless Brother
___________ 's meeting," exactly what do we mean? Do
we desire that the Lord should give the other man a little less, just as much, or much more than He gives us? Our answer to this question determines to a great extent our fitness for our God-given task.
E. E. C.
