THE K I N G ' S BUS I NE S S
938
to finish the work that He has given us to do, whatever that work may be. The desire to do the work that God has appointed someone else to do rather than to do the work He gives us to do, often prevents men and women from seeing clearly the work God has given th em to do. 3. This suggests the third and the all- important condition of finishing the work that God has given us to do. T here m u st be a n absolute surrender to th e w ill of G od . N o man can accomplish the work God has given him to do unless there is a very definite and an absolute surrender to the will of God. Each of us should go to God and say to Him, “Heavenly Father, here I am. I put myself absolutely in Thy hands, send me where Thou wilt, use me as Thou wilt, do with me as Thou wilt.” No mat ter how hard we work and now matter how hard and long we pray, no man can by any possibility accomplish the work the Father has given him to do unless he thus make a full surrender to God. Have you made such a surrender? I put that question to all who are here, but I put it especially to each member of the graduating class. Oh, how sad it would be if there were one member of this graduating class to go out without that definite and full surrender. If anyone of you should go out without making such a surrender, the money, the time and the labor spent upon you has been wasted. No matter how brilliant you may be, no matter how good a record you may have made in your studies, no matter how . much praise your future work may bring, if you have not made a full surrender to God, or do not make that full surrender today, you will be a disgrace to the school, a disgrace to me, a disgrace to Dr. Evans, a disgrace to Mr. Hunter, a disgrace to every member of the faculty, but worst of all, a dis grace to God and to His Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 4. If you are to finish the work which God has given you to do, you
We should have no longing for the apparently greater work of some one else. We should be able to say with abso lute truth: “I have finished the work which thou paves ME to do.” 2. If we are to glorify God upon earth by finishing the work which He has given us to do, w e should find out JUST WHAT THE WOKK IS THAT GOD HAS given us to do . Each must find it out for himself. No person can decide for another what is their work. When I fin ished my college course and told my roommate that I was going to study for the ministry, he said to me, “You are spoiling a good business man to make a poor preacher.”;,. He had good reason for saying it. I had a natural talent for business. In college I not only looked after my own business affairs, but after his also, though he was a good business man—so good a business man that he became practically the head of one of the largest and best known houses in New York City. But I had attended to his business in college as well ag my own and to that of numerous other friends of mine. I liked to do it. On the other hand, I had apparently no gifts that fitted me for the ministry, but everything about me'to unfit me for the ministry. Nevertheless I knew in spite of what he said and in spite of my knowledge of myself, that preaching was the work which God had given me to do. How can we find out what the work is which God has given us to do? God Himself has answered that question in James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given Him.” •The way to find out is by going to God in prayer, by ask ing God directly to make clear to us what the work is which He would have us to do. He may show us but a step at a time, but He will show us. There must be on our part, however, if we are to get God’s direction, that of which I have already spoken, a definite and con scious purpose to do the will of God and
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter