July 24

Greater achievement

“Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church” (1 Cor. 14:12).
“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

Sad will be the day for any man when he becomes satisfied with the life he is living, with the thoughts he is thinking, and the deeds he is doing; when there is not beating at the doors of his soul a desire to do something greater which he knows he was meant to do because he is a child of God.
—Phillips Brooks.


High hearts are never long without hearing some new call, some distant clarion of God, even in their dreams, and soon they are observed to break up the camp of ease and start on some fresh march of faithful service. And, looking higher still, we find those who never wait till their moral work accumulates, and who reward resolution with no rest; with whom, therefore, the alternation is instantaneous and constant; who do the good only to see the better, and see the better only to achieve it; who are too meek for transport, too faithful for remorse, too earnest for repose; whose worship is action, and whose action is ceaseless aspiration.
—James Martineau.

Work for the good that is nighest;
Dream not of greatness afar;
That glory is ever the highest
Which shines upon men as they are.
Work, though the world would defeat you;
Heed not its slander and scorn;
Nor weary till angels shall greet you
With smiles through the gates of the morn.

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