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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
July, 1935
TO A TIRED WORKER B y W ILLIAM OLNEY* London, England “Do thyself, no harm" (Acts 16:28).
W hen I saw you last, you were not looking as I should like to see you. There was a strained, weary, anxious were just the same kind friend, but the face lacked bright ness. More than that, certain remarks about being tired, and even once, growing old, confirmed the witness o f the countenance. You are feeling much the burden o f your work. It is true you have taken up— and‘believe, as I do, that you have been called to—a work which involves a heavy responsibility. There are few persons in our land today in so privileged, but difficult a position, as leader in the work of God. The inventiveness, selection o f volunteer workers, organizing even to the smallest detail, the care of each service, the aiming at results-—all demand a constant watchfulness, and even possibly a tax upon the mental powers. H ow then can the text he obeyed: “ Do thyself no harm"? 1. Refuse to bear yourself the burden o f the respon sibility. Absolutely cast it upon the divine shoulders. I will illustrate my meaning in a practical way. One of our evangelists, now in the field, meets the minister in his * A layman who has served as a deacon in the Metropolitan Taber nacle, London, from the days o f the ministry o f Charles Haddon Spurgeon to the present time. look, which told its story o f an overburdened mind. You
vestry, upon the first night of the mission. They have prayer together. The missioner then, in an act o f faith, commits the services, so far as their power and results go, entirely into God’s hands, leaving himself and the workers with Him, as willing instruments to be used as He pleases. I believe that that act o f faith, definitely accomplished, keeps God’s servant free from undue anxiety, and leaves his soul unhampered with care during the time o f the mission. With regard also to the responsibility, remember that the work is not yours, but God’s. Imagine a tool in the hands o f a workman looking to itself for the skillful per formance o f the task! The success or failure is not the tool’s ! It is the worker’s. That truth greatly helps to relieve the mind o f anxiety. If the effort be successful, it is the Master-Worker who makes it so. If, apparently, success is postponed, He—not the instrument-Smust bear the onus of it. Refuse to carry the responsibility in Chris tian service. Whole-hearted surrender into His hands, to be used, is our part alone! There is great comfort in this fact. 2. Make much o f the help o f a praiseful spirit. The declaration, “ The joy o f the Lord is your strength,” has a New Testament sound. “ Be filled with the Spirit” is immediately followed by “ speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” The greatest
Courtesy, The Rudder
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