| Devotional Hours with the Bible |
Chapter 22 |
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Loving one another as Christ loves us must make it easier for others to work with us. A minister was telling me of one or two persons in His church who are excellent workers, full of zeal and energy, always doing things, but he said they had always to draw in shafts — they would not draw double. There are horses that will not pull in a team — they are to be driven single. There are people who have the same weakness. They want to do good, but they must do it by themselves. They will not work with another person. Then, soon it is true the other way — nobody else will work with them. There is a kind of buggy with only two wheels and a seat for one. It is called a sulky, because it obliges the rider to be alone. Some people are happiest when they ride alone, when they work alone. But the love of Christ teaches us a better way. We need to lean to think of others, those with whom we are associated in Christian life and work. It is so in all associated life. It is so in marriage when two lives are brought together in close relations. It is evident that both cannot have their own way in everything. There is not room for any two people to have their own way in the marriage relation. They are one now, occupying one the place of one, and they must live as one. There must either be the displacement of the one by the other, the losing of the one individuality in the other, the giving up of all by the one to the other, or else there must be the blending of the two lives in one. The latter is the true marriage. Each dies the one for the other. Love unites them and they are no longer two, but now one — two souls with but a common thought, two hearts that beat as one.
The same process should prevail in Christian life and work. Headstrong individualism should be softened and modified by love. Jesus sent forth His disciples in pairs. Two working together are better than two working separately. One is strong in one point and weak in another. The second is strong where the first is weak, and thus the two supplement each other. Paul speaks of certain persons as yokefellows (see Phil. 4:3). Yokefellows draw together patiently and steadily, two necks under the same yoke, two hearts pouring their love into one holy fellowship of service. It is very important that Christian people should love one another as Christ loves them when they are called to work together for their Master. None of us should insist on always having his own way. In community of counsel there is wisdom. Jesus says distinctly that when two agree in prayer there is more power in the pleading, and the prayer will be surer of answer.
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