The Signs of the Times
April 21, 1909
Life's Greatest Compensation
In our life here, earthly, sin restricted tho it is, the greatest joy and the highest education are in service. And in the future state, untrammeled by the limitations of sinful humanity, it is in service that our greatest joy and our highest education will be found,—witnessing, and ever as we witness learning anew “the riches of the glory of this mystery,” “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” ST April 21, 1909, par. 1
Love, the basis of creation and redemption, is the basis of true education. This is made plain in the law that God has given as the guide of life. The first and great commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” To love Him, the infinite, the omniscient One, with the whole strength, and mind, and heart, means the highest development of every power. It means that in the whole being—the body, the mind, as well as the soul—the image of God is to be restored. ST April 21, 1909, par. 2
Like the first is the second commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The law of love calls for the devotion of body, mind, and soul to the service of God and our fellow men. And this service, while making us a blessing to others, brings the greatest blessing to ourselves. Unselfishness underlies all true development. Through unselfish service we receive the highest culture of every faculty. More and more fully do we become partakers of the divine nature. We are fitted for heaven; for we receive heaven into our hearts. ST April 21, 1909, par. 3
Christ bound men to His heart by the ties of love and devotion; and by the same ties He bound them to their fellow men. With Him love was life and life was service. “Freely ye have received,” He said, “freely give.” ST April 21, 1909, par. 4
It was not only on the cross alone that Christ sacrificed Himself for humanity. As “He went about doing good,” every day's experience was an outpouring of His life. In one way only could such a life be sustained. Jesus lived in dependence upon God and communion with Him. To the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty, men now and then repair; they abide for a season, and the result is manifest in noble deeds; then their faith fails, the communion is interrupted, and the life-work marred. But the life of Jesus was a life of constant trust, sustained by continual communion; and His service for heaven and earth was without failure or faltering. ST April 21, 1909, par. 5
As a man He supplicated the throne of God, till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that connected humanity with divinity. Receiving life from God, He imparted life to men. ST April 21, 1909, par. 6
The palm-tree, beaten by the scorching sun and the fierce sandstorm, stands green and flourishing and fruitful in the midst of the desert. Its roots are fed by living springs. Its crown of verdure is seen afar off over the parched, desolate plain; and the traveler, ready to die, urges his failing steps to the cool shade and the life-giving water. ST April 21, 1909, par. 7
The tree of the desert is a symbol of what God means the life of His children in the world to be. They are to guide weary souls, full of unrest, and ready to perish in the desert of sin, to the living water. They are to point their fellow men to Him who gives the invitation, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.” ST April 21, 1909, par. 8
When the providences of God are seen in the light of eternity, those who have wrought with unselfish spirit will behold the fruit of their labors. The outworking of every right principle and noble deed will be seen. Something of this we see here. But how little of the result of the world's noblest work is in this life manifest to the doer! How many toil unselfishly and unweariedly for those who pass beyond their reach and knowledge! Parents and teachers lie down in their sleep, their life-work seeming to have been wrought in vain; they know not that their faithfulness has unsealed springs of blessing that can never cease to flow; only by faith they see the children that they have trained become a benediction and an inspiration to their fellow men and the influence repeat itself a thousandfold. Many a worker sends out into the world messages of strength and hope and courage, words that carry blessing to hearts in every land; but of the results he, toiling in loneliness and obscurity, knows little. So gifts are bestowed, burdens are borne, labor is done. Men sow the seed from which, above their graves, others reap blessed harvests. They plant trees that others may eat the fruit. They are content here to know that they have set in motion agencies for good. In the hereafter the action and reaction of all these will be seen. ST April 21, 1909, par. 9
Of every gift that God has bestowed, leading men to unselfish effort, a record is kept in heaven. To trace this in its widespreading lines, to look upon those who by our efforts have been uplifted and ennobled, to behold in their history the outworking of true principles,—this will be one of the studies and rewards of the heavenly school. ST April 21, 1909, par. 10
The histories of Bible characters are of vital interest. To none are they of deeper importance than to the youth. Moses renounced a prospective kingdom, Paul the advantages of wealth and honor among his people, for a life of burden-bearing in God's service. To many the life of these men appears one of renunciation and sacrifice. Was it really so? Moses counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He counted it so because it was so. Paul declared: “What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ.” He was satisfied with his choice. ST April 21, 1909, par. 11
Moses was offered the palace of the Pharaohs and the monarch's throne; but the sinful pleasures that make men forget God were in those lordly courts, and he chose instead the “durable riches and righteousness.” Instead of linking himself with the greatness of Egypt, he chose to bind up his life with God's purpose. Instead of giving laws to Egypt, he by divine direction enacted laws for the world. He became God's instrument in giving to men those principles that are the safeguard alike of the home and of society, that are the corner-stone of the prosperity of nations,—principles recognized today by the world's greatest men as the foundation of all that is best in human governments. ST April 21, 1909, par. 12
The greatness of Egypt is in the dust. Its power and civilization have passed away. But the work of Moses can never perish. The great principles of righteousness which he lived to establish are eternal. ST April 21, 1909, par. 13
Moses’ life of toil and heart-burdening care was irradiated with the presence of Him who is “chiefest among ten thousand,” and the One “altogether lovely.” With Christ in the wilderness wandering, with Christ on the mount of transfiguration, with Christ in the heavenly courts,—his was a life on earth blessing and blessed, and in heaven honored. ST April 21, 1909, par. 14
Paul also in his manifold labors was upheld by the sustaining power of His presence. “I can do all things,” he said, “through Christ which strengtheneth me.” “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ST April 21, 1909, par. 15
Who can measure the result to the world of Paul's life work? Of all those beneficent influences that alleviate suffering, that comfort sorrow, that restrain evil, that uplift life from the selfish and the sensual, and glorify it with the hope of immortality, how much is due to the labors of Paul and his fellow workers, as with the Gospel of the Son of God they made their unnoticed journey from Asia to the shores of Europe? ST April 21, 1909, par. 16
What is it worth to any life to have been God's instrument in setting in motion such influences of blessing? What will it be worth in eternity to witness the results of such life work? ST April 21, 1909, par. 17