May 10

God’s fearless messengers

“And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord” (Jer. 23:4).
“For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

Although the following advice, from the pen of G. D. Watson, may apply particularly to ministers and preachers, it can also come as an appeal to all of us, rank and file Christians. Which of us has not some portion of God’s flock for which our conscience tells us we are responsible? The challenge is to every true Christian, that he may be given that holy courage that will defy all hell until precious souls are won to Christ:
“The world and the visible Church both need messengers of God so perfectly purged by the Spirit and filled with Him as not to fear rich and cultured sinners, who are not ever afraid of offending someone, who have no fear about their salaries or the votes of the conference, who are not afraid to preach very simple Bible sermons, who are not afraid of telling their experience, who are not in the least afraid of the flattery or abuse of the whole world.


They need men who so bury themselves in the bosom of God that the created universe cannot scare them; men who so fix their eyes on Jesus that they are oblivious to stained glass, pipe organs, fine clothes, and the foolish whims of proud theatre-going church members; men who walk so close with God that when they preach the people feel as if a solemn section of eternity were falling on them.
“But this holy courage cannot be studied out, nor thought out, nor volitioned out, nor counterfeited. It comes only into an utterly purified heart, and is one of the fruits of perfect love.”

It is easy to appear a Daniel in a country where there are no lions.

Be careful that what you take for sweetness is not cowardice, and what you take to be the defense of the truth is not theological sourness.
—Reader Harris.

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