Eden Health

     But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 2 Tim. 2:20, 21.      

      The Master has given to every man his work. He has given to every man according to his ability, and his trust is in proportion to his capacity. . . .  

     Let none mourn that they have not larger talents to use for the Master. . . . Go to work with steady patience and do your very best, irrespective of what others are doing. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). Let not your thought or your words be, “O that I had a larger work! O that I were in this or that position!” Do your duty where you are. Make the best investments possible with your entrusted gift in the very place where your work will count the most before God. . . . Be not envious of the talents of others, for that will not increase your ability to do a good or a great work. Use your gift in meekness, in humility, in trusting faith, and wait till the day of reckoning, and you will have no cause for grief or shame. . . .  

     Do not aspire to do some great service when the duty of today has not been done with fidelity. Take up the commonplace care, trade on the humble talent with a solemn sense of your responsibility for the right use of every power, every thought, that God has given you. God asks no less of the lowliest than of the most exalted; each must do his appointed work with cheerful alacrity, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. . . . The church of God is made up of persons of different abilities. Like vessels of various dimensions, we are placed in the house of the Lord; but it is not expected that the smaller vessels will contain all that the larger ones will hold. All that is required is that the vessel shall be full and hold according to its ability. If you perform faithfully the duties in your path you will be an acceptable servant, an honored vessel.  

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     Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Rom. 6:13.      

     The Lord has given you talents to use, and in using these talents as He intended they should be used, you will have increased aptitude and wisdom and clear spiritual eyesight to understand His work. Your mind and eyes must watch for His appearing, your ears open to hear the faintest whisperings of His voice. Your knees He has made; use them in kneeling in prayer. He is your strength. By faith take hold of the Unseen. Let your feet be shod with the preparation of the gospel for running obediently in the way of His commandments. Your tongue and voice are a talent given you of God to tell the story of His life, of His lessons, of His death, of His resurrection, of His ascension. Your bodily strength is to be devoted to the Master in fighting the good fight of faith on the battlefield, overcoming His enemies with “It is written.” Your sympathies and energies belong to God. Use them to glorify your Redeemer. . . .  

     Cultivate the thought that you are not alone. All your steps are watched by the Lord. You are encompassed with vigilant angels. . . . As the angels ministered unto Jacob, so certainly will they minister unto all of the Lord’s humble, contrite ones. . . .  

     Reach up, higher and still higher, taking hold of one line of faith after another. Walk and work in love to God and the poor oppressed ones, and the Lord will be your helper. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (John 1:51). Jesus the precious Saviour, the Son of the living God, is the ladder uniting the celestial world with the terrestrial. His divinity lays hold of the throne of God. His humanity touches the earth. His human arm encircles the entire human race. Through Jesus Christ the angelic ministrations in love, in comfort, in reproof, in light, reach us. O thank the Lord, for He is good, and His mercies endure forever!  

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     But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. 1 Cor. 7:7.      

     God gives more than money to His stewards. Your talent of imparting is a gift. What are you communicating of the gifts of God, in your words, in your tender sympathy? . . . The knowledge of truth is a talent. There are many souls in darkness that might be enlightened by true, faithful words from you. There are hearts that are hungering for sympathy, perishing away from God. Your sympathy may help them. The Lord has need of your words, dictated by His Holy Spirit. . . .  

     The first work for all Christians to do is to search the Scriptures with most earnest prayer, that they may have that faith that works by love and purifies the soul from every thread of selfishness. If the truth is received into the heart, it works like good leaven, until every power is brought into subjection to the will of God. Then you can no more help shining than can the sun. . . .  

     All natural gifts are to be sanctified as precious endowments. They are to be consecrated to God, that they may minister for the Master. All social advantages are talents. They are not to be devoted to self-pleasing, amusement, or self-gratification. . . . The gift of correct example is a great thing. But many gather about the soul an atmosphere that is malarious. . . .  

     The gifts of speech, of knowledge, of sympathy and love, communicate a knowledge of Christ. All these gifts are to be converted to God. The Lord stands in need of them, He calls for them. All are to act a part in preparing their own souls and the souls of others to rededicate their talents to God. Every soul, every gift, is to be laid under contribution to God. All are to cooperate with God in the work of saving souls. The talents you possess are given you of God to make you efficient colaborers with Christ. There are hearts hungering for sympathy, perishing for the help and assistance God has given you to give to them.  

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       For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. Matt. 25:29.      

     If talents are well improved, increased talents are the result. “Unto every one that hath shall be given.” . . . If Heaven’s bestowed gifts are not appreciated and improved as God’s intrusted capital–if they are buried in worldliness, in selfishness–these powers capable of blessing humanity decrease, and because the God of heaven is not sought after and glorified as the source of all these precious endowments, He is dishonored, and He cuts off the supply. In order to increase, to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we must put to use by human effort our physical and intellectual powers.  

     Those who hoard up their talents to rust, unemployed, unimproved, must not think that such action in any way relieves them from responsibility, for God holds us responsible for the good we might do if we took up the yoke with Christ, lifting His burdens, learning more of His meekness and lowliness of heart day by day. The interest continues to accumulate on buried talents, and instead of decreasing our responsibility the burying of our talent only increases and intensifies it.  

     Let the human agent consider the solemn fact that the day of reckoning is just before us, and that we are daily deciding what our eternal destiny shall be. The Master examines every individual case, dealing personally with the talents entrusted by Him. O solemn day of reckoning; that day which will bring paleness to many faces; that day in which the words shall be spoken to many, “Thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting”! It will be an awful thing to be found “wanting” when the book of accounts is opened in that great day. . . . Upon the decisions reached in that day depends the future, eternal interest of every soul. We shall have unspeakable joy, or unutterable woe and misery. . . . O how Jesus will love to recompense every true worker! Every faithfully performed duty will receive His blessing. It is then that He pronounces the benediction, “Well done.”  

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     His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Matt. 25:23.      

     Said Christ, “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). In the little matters some do not think it necessary to be so very exact, but this is the deception of Satan.  

     Selfishness is at the root of all unfairness and all lack of fidelity. . . . There is with many of the youth who profess to believe the truth a vanity, pride, profligacy, and carelessness that are making them reckless and disqualifying them for a noble and elevated life here, and unfitting them for the future life hereafter. . . . There is not with all a careful improvement of the time for which they are paid. Those who fritter away their time or fail to put it to the best use are robbing God. Some . . . have a very favorable opinion of those who are careless, reckless of money and reckless of time, but God regards all these things in their true character–frauds which He will avenge.  

     Time, talents, and skill are to be brought into use and put to the very best account. . . . Let every one be true to principle, as if the eye of the Infinite was upon him. You may, young men and women, make of yourselves what you will, by the grace of God combined with earnest efforts and determined will to resist inclination to indulgence. . . .  

     Christ gave to man a perfect example, but those who move out on what they call a liberal plan, and become careless in the little matters, will soon show a wide deviation from Christ’s example, the only true pattern. Young men and women, will you study more closely and prayerfully the life of Christ, and make that life your criterion, your standard?  

     Practical religion must be carried into the lowly duties of daily life. And in the performance of these duties you are forming characters that will stand the test of the judgment. Then, in whatever position you may be placed, whatever your duties may be, do them nobly and faithfully, realizing that all heaven is beholding your work.  

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     And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Matt. 25:15.      

     The parable of the talents … has a personal and individual application to every man, woman, and child possessed of the powers of reason. Your obligation and responsibility are in proportion to the talents God has bestowed upon you. . . .  

     When the master of the house called his servants, he gave to every man his work. The whole family of God are included in the responsibility of using their Lord’s goods. Every individual, from the lowliest and most obscure to the greatest and most exalted, is a moral agent endowed with abilities for which he is accountable to God. . . . The spiritual, mental, and physical ability, the influence, station, possessions, affections, sympathies, all are precious talents to be used in the cause of the Master….  

     Let the businessman do his business in a way that will glorify his Master because of his fidelity. Let him carry his religion into everything that is done, and reveal to men the Spirit of Christ. Let the mechanic be a diligent and faithful representative of Him who toiled in the lowly walks of life in the cities of Judea. Let every one who names the name of Christ so work, that man by seeing his good works may be led to glorify his Creator and Redeemer. . . .  

     Those who have been blessed with superior talents should not depreciate the value of the services of those who are less gifted than themselves. The smallest trust is a trust from God. The one talent, through diligent use with the blessing of God, will be doubled, and the two used in the service of Christ will be increased to four; and thus the humblest instrument may grow in power and usefulness. The earnest purpose, the self-denying efforts, are all seen, appreciated, and accepted by the God of heaven…. God alone can estimate the worth of their service and see the far-reaching influence of him who works for the glory of his Maker.  

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     For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Mark 13:34.      

     When God commanded the tabernacle to be built in the wilderness, each man’s work was assigned him. . . . In setting up and taking down the tabernacle, in moving from place to place in the wilderness, the position each was to occupy was plainly specified.  

     Christ was the invisible General of that company of more than a million people, and there were no haphazard, disorderly movements made. Order, dispatch, and exactitude were required of each one at the post of duty assigned him. This is an important lesson to the church and to every man whom God has chosen to act a part in His great work. No one is required to do another’s work. Each is to do the work assigned him with exactness and integrity. The management of that great church in their journeyings in the wilderness symbolizes the management of the church till the close of earth’s history, till we come into possession of the heavenly Canaan….  

     The Lord has need of all kinds of skillful workmen. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11, 12). … Each worker in every branch of work in the Lord’s vineyard must have a head and a heart sanctified through the truth to enable him to see not merely the part of the work which is under his supervision, but its relation to the great whole. When the workers are consecrated to God they will reveal the love of God for their brethren who work under the unseen, divine Master Worker. “We are labourers together with God” (1 Cor. 3:9). . . .  

     We are all part of the great web of humanity, thread packed against thread to bring out the pattern of the fabric and make it a complete whole. . . . Be God’s thread to work out His design. You can never handle yourself.  

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     He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10.       The active service of God is directly connected with the ordinary duties of life, even its humblest occupations. We are to serve God just where He puts us. He is to place us individually, and not we ourselves. Perhaps service in the home life is the place we are to occupy for a time, if not always. Then a preparation for that work should be obtained, that we may do our best in service for the Lord.  

     The Lord is testing and proving us to see what sort of timbers, or attributes, we are bringing into the character building. If we are listless and indifferent, negligent and careless, in the small, everyday duties we shall never be fitted for any other service for God. . . . He that is unfaithful in that which is least would certainly repeat this unfaithfulness if placed in higher positions of trust and given larger responsibilities. . . . The service of God will be done in a haphazard manner. . . .  

     The importance of little things is underrated just because they are small, but the influence of the little things for good or evil is great. They supply much of the actual discipline of life for every human being. They are part of the training of the soul in the sanctification of all our entrusted talents to God. Faithfulness in the little things in the line of duty makes the worker in God’s service reflect more and more the likeness of Christ.  

     Our Saviour is a Saviour for the perfection of the whole man. He is not the God of part of the being only. The grace of Christ works to the disciplining of the whole human fabric. He made all. He has redeemed all. He has made the mind, the strength, the body as well as the soul, partaker of the divine nature, and all is His purchased possession. He must be served with the whole mind, heart, soul, and strength. Then the Lord will be glorified in His saints in even the common, temporal things with which they are connected. “Holiness unto the Lord” will be the inscription placed upon them.  

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     Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Matt. 4:10.      

     “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). . . . It is not alone in denying the existence of God or in bowing down to idols of wood and stone that this first commandment is broken. By many who profess to be followers of Christ, its principles are infringed, but the Lord of heaven does not acknowledge those as His children who are cherishing in their hearts anything that takes the place which God alone should hold. With many the gratification of appetite holds sway, while with others dress and love of the world are given the first place in the heart. . . .  

     God has given us many things in this life upon which to bestow our affections, but when we carry to excess that which in itself is lawful we become idolaters. . . . Anything that separates our affections from God and lessens our interest in eternal things is an idol. Those who use the precious time given them by God–time that has been purchased at an infinite cost–in embellishing their homes for display, in following the fashions and customs of the world, are not only robbing their own souls of spiritual food, but are failing to give God His due. The time thus spent in the gratification of selfish desires might be employed in obtaining a knowledge of the Word of God, in cultivating our talents, that we might render intelligent service to our Creator. . . . God will not share a divided heart. If the world absorbs our attention, He cannot reign supreme. If this diminishes our devotion for God, it is idolatry in His eyes….  

     “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). When our hearts are tuned to praise our Maker, not only in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs but also in our lives, we shall live in communion with Heaven. . . . There will be gratitude in the heart and in the home, in private as well as in public devotion. This constitutes the true worship of God.  

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      For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:35-37.      

     The Lord Jesus … lifts up His voice to break the spell of infatuation upon human minds and asks the momentous question, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” …  

     Disease and death are in our world, and how little we know when our individual probation shall end. . . . How many, if now called to render up their accounts, would do it with grief, regret, and remorse that their God-given probationary time was so fully employed in self-serving! The eternal interests of the soul have been fearfully neglected for unimportant affairs. The mind is kept busy, just as Satan designs it shall be, with selfish interests and nothing of any consequence, and time may be passing into eternity without a fitting up for heaven at all.  

     What can be compared with the loss of a human soul? It is a question which every soul must determine for himself–whether to gain the treasures of eternal life or to lose all because of his neglect to make God and His righteousness his first and only business. Jesus, the world’s Redeemer,… looks with grief upon the large number of those who profess to be Christians who are not serving Him but themselves. They scarcely think of eternal realities, notwithstanding He calls their attention to the rich reward awaiting the faithful who will serve Him with their undivided affections. He brings eternal realities within the range of their vision. He bids them to count the cost now of being an obedient and faithful follower of Christ, and says, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).  

     He would have every individual sense his responsibility to so use his precious time here in this world that it will be fruitful daily in good works. This is the only worthy aim of every living mortal–to employ his God-given faculties with endless results in view.  

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