As to our service, we have seen our precious Lord and Master, in profound self-abasement, wash the feet of His disciples, making Himself an example—for whom? For us, surely. Now I know, at the present time, of no service which is worthy of Him or agreeable to Him if it is not done in humiliation. This is not the time to speak of a place for ourselves. If the church of God, so dear to Christ, is dishonored in this world, if it is scattered, ignorant and afflicted, he who has the mind of Christ will always take the lowest place. True service of love will seek to give according to the need, and, because of their need, he will never think of slighting the objects of the Master’s love because of their necessity. Men taught of God, for His service, go forth from a place of strength where they have learned their own weakness and their own nothingness. They find that Jesus is everything in the presence of God, and Jesus is everything for them in all things and everywhere. Such men in the hands of the Holy Spirit are real helps for the children of God, and they will not contend for a place or a distinction or for authority among the scattered flock. The communion of a man with God about the church will show itself in a willingness to be nothing in himself, and such a one will rejoice in his heart to spend and to be spent.
J. N. Darby