Prepare to Serve

By Ellen G. White

God has a much higher standard for His people to reach than they have reached in the past. What can I say that will give them a consciousness of the responsibility resting on them to be Christlike in word and deed? … Did we live the words of Christ, we should be brought into such close contact with Him that we should know what to do in order to advance the work of God. When we take Christ as our example in character-building, we shall make decided progress. When we are filled with a desire to be like our Saviour, when we refuse to weave self into the work that we do for the Lord, when we look away from finite counsel to the One who is too wise to err and too good to do us harm, we shall be strong in the strength of the Lord.…

Putting Self Aside
We need to feel our obligation to the higher Power. That presence is ever with us, asserting supreme authority, and taking account of the service that we render or withhold.… “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” This command must be sacredly observed if we would fulfill the purpose of God for us in our creation and redemption. We must rise heavenward, making God first and last and best in everything. He is our sole, supreme, and everlasting good.…

God points out the path of duty, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it.” In that path lie self-denial and the cross, but it is [the] only path of peace and safety. But there are many who are turning their backs on this path, and are walking in the companionship of self—a companionship that they have every reason to dread.

Jesus First, Others Second
The divine revelation and commission given to Moses made him great. He would not cease pleading, “Show me thy glory.” And the Lord made His glory pass before him. Moses talked with God face to face, as a man talketh with a friend. The realization of his inability to do the work given him drove him to God, to plead for the people under his leadership. Naturally he was diffident, slow of speech, hesitating, self-distrustful; but he was eloquent as he besought the Lord in behalf of his people. He presented them before God, saying, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”

It was mercy that ruled in the leadership of Moses. It was mercy that spoke through the words and deeds of Christ. Not one thread of selfishness was drawn into the web. To those who today move forward under the command of Christ, God will give kindness, patience, long-suffering, and gentleness, with a trusting heart.

Looking to Jesus
The representatives of Christ are to rely constantly on His wisdom. This is necessary for the safe guidance of those whom they lead. It is a sacred, solemn work to be in charge of and to lead the Lord’s people. In this work there is need of constant watchfulness and prayer; and those engaged in it need daily to receive the gift of God’s grace, that they may have wherewith to impart to others.…

God asks of His workers a humble, trusting, obedient heart, and the willing service of the whole being. “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” … The only power that is of worth in God’s sight comes through the meekness and lowliness of Christ.

Every day God’s workers are to be partakers of the divine nature.… Then God will work through them and with them, enabling them to scatter blessings wherever they go, and to build up the work where Christ is building, strengthening the hands of His laborers, and discerning with clear perception what needs to be done. They are colaborers with Christ, representing His character in goodness and compassion and love.…

“I will make you fishers of men”
All along the path we travel we are to leave waymarks of the love of Christ. This love, acted out in the life, always brings a response. It causes offerings of gratitude to be brought to God by those who appreciate His goodness. God’s workers will be acknowledged as their efforts to forward His cause are made in harmony with the plan of the Saviour.

Those who are connected with God as His colaborers can reveal greatness of soul only as they hide the life in the life of Christ, and strive to comprehend the exalted character of the work in which they are engaged. A true estimate of the sacredness of this work can be gained only as we behold it in the light of the sacrifice that Christ made in order that men and women might be saved from sin.

Christ expects each of His followers to do His work. This He has commanded in His Word. “Follow me,” is His call to them. He came to our world to give men an example of a perfect life. He who in God’s service sacrifices all of self finds his reward in the work of seeking to save the lost, and in the joy that he feels in seeing sinners brought to the Saviour. God wants men to forget themselves in the effort to save souls. He calls for light-bearers, who will fill the world with the light and peace and joy that come from Christ. He will use humble men, men who cherish a sense of their weakness, who do not think that the success of the work depends on them. He will use men who will remember what the service of God demands—the Christlikeness of word and deed that God calls for. Such ones will reveal that Christ dwells in the heart, imparting purity to the whole life.

This article is excerpted from one that first appeared in the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, now the Adventist Review, (www.adventistreview.org) November 24, 1910. Seventh-day Adventists believe that Ellen G. White exercised the biblical gift of prophecy during more than 70 years of public ministry.