Evening, March 2
Go To Morning Reading
“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given,
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ.”
Ephesians 3:8
The apostle Paul felt it a great privilege to be allowed to preach
the gospel. He did not look upon his calling as a drudgery, but he
entered upon it with intense delight. Yet while Paul was thus thankful
for his office, his success in it greatly humbled him. The fuller
a vessel becomes, the deeper it sinks in the water. Idlers may indulge
a fond conceit of their abilities, because they are untried; but the
earnest worker soon learns his own weakness. If you seek humility,
try hard work ; if you would know your nothingness, attempt some great thing for
Jesus. If you would feel how utterly powerless you are apart from
the living God, attempt especially the great work of proclaiming the
unsearchable riches of Christ, and you will know, as you never knew
before, what a weak unworthy thing you are. Although the apostle thus
knew and confessed his weakness, he was never perplexed as to the
subject of his ministry. From his first sermon to his last, Paul preached
Christ, and nothing but Christ. He lifted up the cross, and extolled
the Son of God who bled thereon. Follow his example in all your personal
efforts to spread the glad tidings of salvation, and let “Christ and him crucified” be your ever recurring theme. The Christian should be like those
lovely spring flowers which, when the sun is shining, open their golden
cups, as if saying, “Fill us with thy beams!” but when the sun is hidden behind a cloud, they close their cups
and droop their heads. So should the Christian feel the sweet influence
of Jesus; Jesus must be his sun, and he must be the flower which yields
itself to the Sun of Righteousness. Oh! to speak of Christ alone,
this is the subject which is both “seed for the sower, and bread for the eater.” This is the live coal for the lip of the speaker, and the master-key
to the heart of the hearer.