| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 20 |
Page 2 |
We admit the truth of this in Christ’s own life. We understand that He accomplished infinitely more by giving His life in service and sacrifice at an early age than He would have done if He had saved it from suffering and death and devoted it for long years to good deeds. But the same is true of all lives. Christ by His example taught all of us the true way to live. “If any man serve me.” That was what Christ’s disciples wished to do. They had listened to His call and had joined His company. This meant to serve Him. They believed in Him. They were sure that no one like Him had ever come among men as teacher, helper and leader. They wanted to serve Him.
What is it to serve Christ? Ruskin calls attention to a common form of religious speech which, he thinks, is misleading. We call church worship “divine service.” We say our morning service is at ten forty-five, our evening service at seven forty-five. Service in this use of the word means singing hymns, reading the Scriptures, praying, and meditating on some devotional theme. But Mr. Ruskin reminds us that this is not service at all, in the higher sense. “If a child finds itself in want of anything, it runs and asks the father for it. Does it call that doing its father a service? When a child loves its father very much, and is very happy, it may sing little songs about him; but it doesn’t call that serving its father. Neither is singing hymns to God, serving God.” Of course, in a sense we are serving Christ when we worship Him in a meeting. But this is not all that such service means.
Page 2