SOME persons are never happy apart from doing good: therefore the more good they do, the happier they become.
We met with a very earnest Christian some time ago who had read his Bible through five times over on his knees, and had walked altogether something like two thousand miles on the Lord’s service without receiving any payment whatever; and although turned threescore years and ten, he was still “in harness,” and appeared to be very happy indeed.
But it may be asked, ‘Was not Martha, the sister of Mary, “doing good” when she applied to the Lord for assistance in her busy moments?’ Yet instead of bidding her sister help her, He reproved her: “Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things” (Luke 10:4141And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: (Luke 10:41)), proving that Martha was far from being happy, though fully occupied at the time.
Persons that are very active in the Lord’s service are in danger of becoming self-important; and when such is the case we are apt to want others to follow our example and do as we are doing. This was Martha’s snare, and with a mind somewhat engrossed and bewildered with care, she marred her own happiness and rendered her service distasteful to the Lord.
It would be difficult to say how many times the apostle Paul had read his Bible through, or tell the number of miles he had walked at the close of his Christian career. We may safely say, however, that no one ever labored so incessantly or suffered so severely in the service of God as he; for a proof of which we have only to refer the reader to 2 Corinthians 11, which contains a list both of the sufferings which the apostle endured and the dangers to which he was exposed, while journeying from city to city, and from one country to another as the ambassador of Christ.
The apostle commences by saying, “Five times received I forty stripes save one”; then follow imprisonments and stoning. In crossing the sea he had nearly been drowned, and when in the desert he was waylaid by robbers. So great were his privations at times that he was without food to eat or clothes to wear. But instead of being self-important or puffed up on account’ of his great doings, he actually charged himself with folly for having referred to himself at all, and partly apologized to the Corinthians for what he had said with respect to his service and sufferings.
While Martha was complaining for want of help in the work she was engaged in, Mary was sitting at her Master’s feet, hearing what He had to say, including His condemnation of troubled Martha’s activity and His commendation of herself, saying, “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10).
The apostle Paul, like Mary, was marked by devotedness to Christ. Keeping self out of sight, what he did was for the glory of God and the praise of his Master’s name.
Habitual communion with God renders the Christian capable of blending the service of Martha with the devotedness of Mary, thus affording joy to the heart of the Lord in both.
An aged servant of God once said to one younger than himself, “Be sure of this, that unless you are more with the Lord than you are with your hearers, you will soon run dry. Whereas if you come to Him continually and drink for yourself, there will, from the inward parts, be a proportionate outflow to others” (John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37)).
H. H.