A Call To Service

This is life eternal,» Christ prayed, «that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.» There is in this prayer a greatness that no human language can express. Thousands upon thousands long for a knowledge of God. Some have a partial knowledge of him, but not the fulness of knowledge. Others, filled with unrest, long for something that they have not.

Christ longed to help and save the perishing, and he expressed his longing in the words, «Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.»

The labor for which Christ saw there was so much need was harvesting. Harvesters are few. The work of gathering in the grain takes tact and skill, that none be lost. Winnowers of souls are needed in every place where the standard of truth, on which is inscribed the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, has been uplifted.

«The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.» When Christ made this statement, there were scribes and Pharisees, priests and rulers, in every city and town in the land. But the Saviour saw that these teachers were wholly unfitted to minister to the spiritual needs of the people. «Ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God,» he said to them. Ye teach for doctrine the commandments of men.

To every one God has committed a work. Each one is invited to take Christ’s yoke and learn of him. Intensity is needed in the work of seeking to save those who are perishing out of Christ. Satan is intense in his efforts to deceive souls and gather them under his banner of apostasy and rebellion, and his helpers are without number.

The Lord has a great work to be done. He has decisive battles to be fought, and he calls upon young men and women to fight for him, to consecrate themselves to his work. «I have written unto you, young men, «John says, «because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one…. Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.»

And the apostle Paul wrote: «Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.»

It is God who implants his Spirit in the hearts of young men,leading them to fight for him against great odds. Thus he inspired Paul of Tarsus, who fought with all his intrusted capabilities for heaven’s revealed truth, against apostates who ought to have upheld him. God’s servants will have to-day to meet the same difficulties that Paul met. But Christ left the ninety and nine that he might seek and save the one lost sheep, and can we be justified in doing less?

Sound an alarm throughout the length and breadth of the land. Tell the people that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. Let none be left unwarned. Having heard the solemn warning of the third angel, we are debtors to others, to impart the truth to them.

We have no time to lose. The end is near. We must look our work fairly in the face, and advance as fast as possible in aggressive warfare. The powers of darkness are working with intense energy from beneath, and with stealthy tread Satan is advancing to take those who are now asleep, as a wolf taking his prey. God help us to give the warning now while we may, and with our eyes fixed on Jesus our Leader, press on to victory.