William Booth Stood at great cost
11-28-12 The Old Russian on Valid Service
That we live in an age of disappointment in many who serve Christ is understatement. On every hand some paragon of virtue is discovered to have feet of clay. If the unthinkable could not happen, there would not be many verses to deal with such lapses. I do not say this with satire in mind nor sarcasm.
When such things happen, to someone else or to you, the only sensible thing to do is get your eyes and feelings off of yourself or the other person and continue in faith with Jesus.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote of this painful experience with this bit in The Brothers Karamazov:
“Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.”
The thought “I am in this all alone” is common, but God will not settle for this excuse for slacking on service. When all is said and done, the old Russian had it right; true service for Christ is between the servant and his Lord. Others are to be served in Christ’s name, but never used as a genuine reason for continuing or quitting to serve Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Copyright © 2012 Larry Lilly
That we live in an age of disappointment in many who serve Christ is understatement. On every hand some paragon of virtue is discovered to have feet of clay. If the unthinkable could not happen, there would not be many verses to deal with such lapses. I do not say this with satire in mind nor sarcasm.
When such things happen, to someone else or to you, the only sensible thing to do is get your eyes and feelings off of yourself or the other person and continue in faith with Jesus.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote of this painful experience with this bit in The Brothers Karamazov:
“Believe to the end, even if all men went astray and you were left the only one faithful; bring your offering even then and praise God in your loneliness.”
The thought “I am in this all alone” is common, but God will not settle for this excuse for slacking on service. When all is said and done, the old Russian had it right; true service for Christ is between the servant and his Lord. Others are to be served in Christ’s name, but never used as a genuine reason for continuing or quitting to serve Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Copyright © 2012 Larry Lilly
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