Jesus did not say - Make converts to your way of thinking, but look after My sheep, see that they get nourished in the knowledge of Me.

We count as service what we do in the way of Christian work; Jesus Christ calls service what we are to Him, not what we do for Him.

Discipleship is based on devotion to Jesus Christ, not on adherence to a belief or a creed.

"If any man come to Me and hate not . . . , he cannot be My disciple."

There is no argument and no compulsion, but simply - If you would be My disciple, you must be devoted to Me.

A man touched by the Spirit of God suddenly says - "Now I see Who Jesus is," and that is the source of devotion.

To-day we have substituted credal belief for personal belief, and that is why so many are devoted to causes and so few devoted to Jesus Christ.

People do not want to be devoted to Jesus, but only to the cause He started.

Jesus Christ is a source of deep offence to the educated mind of to-day that does not want Him in any other way than as a Comrade.

Our Lord's first obedience was to the will of His Father, not to the needs of men; the saving of men was the natural outcome of His obedience to the Father.

If I am devoted to the cause of humanity only, I will soon be exhausted and come to the place where my love will falter; but if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity though men treat me as a door-mat.

The secret of a disciple's life is devotion to Jesus Christ, and the characteristic of the life is its unobtrusiveness.

It is like a corn of wheat, which falls into the ground and dies, but presently it will spring up and alter the whole landscape (John 12:24).

A peasant once came to Tauler to confess; but in place of the peasant confessing to Tauler, Tauler confessed to the peasant. The great preacher said, “I am not satisfied.” The peasant replied, “Tauler has to die before he can be satisfied.”

That great man, who had thousands listening to him, withdrew to a place of quiet and asked God to work out that death in him.

After he had been there for two years, he came out and assembled his congregation. A great multitude came to hear him, for he had been a wonderful preacher. He began to preach, but he broke down and wept. The audience dispersed saying, “What is the matter with Tauler? He can’t preach as he once did. He failed today!”

The next time he preached only a little handful came together—those who had caught a glimpse of something—and he preached to them in a brokenhearted way; but the power of God came down. God, by the power of the Spirit, had put John Tauler to death! SELECTED

Beloved, are you willing to be crucified with Christ?

Higher than the highest heavens,

Deeper than the deepest sea,

Lord, Thy love at last hath conquered:

Grant me now my supplication,

None of self, and all of Thee.

In Northampton, Massachusetts, stands the old cemetery where David Brainerd is buried. Brainerd, a pioneer American missionary, died in 1747 at the age of twenty-nine after suffering from tuberculosis. His grave is beside that of Jerusha Edwards, the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan theologian of that day. Brainerd loved Jerusha and they were engaged to be married, but he did not live until the wedding.

Imagine what hopes, dreams, and expectations for the cause of Christ were buried in the grave with the withered body of that young missionary. At that point, nothing remained but memories and several dozen Indian converts! Yet Jonathan Edwards, that majestic old Puritan saint, who had hoped to call Brainerd his son, began to write the story of that short life in a little book. The book took wings, flew across the sea, and landed on the desk of a Cambridge student by the name of Henry Martyn.

Poor Henry Martyn! In spite of his education, brilliance, and great opportunities, he—after reading that little book on the life of Brainerd—threw his own life away! Afterward, what had he accomplished once he set his course toward home from India in 1812? With his health then broken, he dragged himself as far north as the town of Tokat, Turkey, near the Black Sea. There he lay in the shade of a pile of saddles, to cool his burning fever, and died alone at the age of thirty-one.

What was the purpose behind these “wasted lives”? From the grave of a young David Brainerd, and the lonely grave of Henry Martyn near the shores of the Black Sea, have arisen a mighty army of modern missionaries.

LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON

Is there some desert, or some boundless sea, Where You, great God of angels, will send me? Some oak for me to rend, Some sod for me to break, Some handful of Your corn to take And scatter far afield, Till it in turn will yield Its hundredfold Of grains of gold To feed the happy children of my God? Show me the desert, Father, or the sea; Is it Your enterprise? Great God, send me! And though this body lies where ocean rolls, Father, count me among all faithful souls.

Infinite wisdom takes us in hand and leads us through deep interior crucifixion to our fine parts, lofty reason, brightest hopes, cherished affections, our pious zeal, our spiritual impetuosity, our narrow culture, our creed and churchism, our success, our spiritual experience, our spiritual comforts.

The crucifixion goes on until we are dead and detached from all creatures, all saints, all thoughts, all hopes, all plans, all tender heart-yearnings, all preferences; dead to all trouble, all sorrow, all disappointments, all praise or blame, success or failure, comforts and annoyances, climates or nationalities; dead to all desires but Himself.

There is no field without a seed,

Life raised through death is life indeed.

The smallest, lowliest little flower

A secret is, of mighty power.

To die—it lives—buried to rise—

Abundant life through sacrifice.

Wouldst thou know sacrifice?

It is through loss;

Thou can’st not save but by the Cross.

A corn of wheat except it die,

Can never, never multiply.

The glorious fields of waving gold,

Through death are life a hundredfold.

Thou who for souls dost weep and pray,

Let not hell’s legions thee dismay.

This is the way of ways for thee,

The way of certain victory.

“THE SOUL WINNER’S SECRET”

Let go of the old grain of wheat if you want a harvest.

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

If the firstfruit be holy the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

The Lord Jesus Christ . . . shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

The firstborn from the dead.—If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.