| Week-Day Religion |
Chapter 15 |
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More than once in the Scriptures the lives of God’s people in this world are compared to the dew. There may be other points of analogy, but especially noteworthy is the quiet manner in which the dew performs its ministry. It falls silently and imperceptibly. It makes no noise. No one hears it dropping. It chooses the darkness of the night, when men are sleeping and when no one can witness its beautiful work. It covers the leaves with clusters of pearls. It steals into the bosom of the flower, and leaves a new cupful of sweetness there. It pours itself down among the roots of the grasses and tender herbs and plants. In the morning there is fresh beauty everywhere, and new life. The fields look greener, the gardens are more fragrant and all nature glows and sparkles with a new splendor.
Is there no suggestion here as to the manner in which we should seek to do good in this world? Should it not be our aim to have our influence felt rather than to be seen and heard? Should we not desire to scatter blessings so silently and so secretly that no one shall know what hand dropped them? The whole spirit of our Lord’s teaching confirms this: “When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret.” We are commanded not to seek the praise of men – not to do good deeds to be seen of men or to receive reward of them. We are not to sound trumpets or announce our righteous acts from the housetop.
Translated into the phrase of daily life, these injunctions would seem to mean that we are not to seek to have all our benevolent acts published in the newspapers. They would seem to mean that we should not desire publicity and human praise for every kindness we show. They seem, indeed, to imply that we should even take pains not to have our good deeds made known at all – that we should seek to perform them so silently and secretly that the world may never hear any report of them. When the motive is to receive praise of men or to exhibit our goodness, the act loses its beauty in God’s sight.
This test applied may find many of us wanting. Are we willing to be as the dew – to steal abroad in the darkness, carrying blessings to men’s doors which shall enrich them and do them good and give them joy, and then steal away again before they awake to know what hand brought the gift? Are we willing to work without gratitude, without recognition, without human praise, without return? Are we content to have our lives poured out like the dew to bless the world and make it more fruitful, and yet to remain hidden away ourselves – to see the effects of our toil and sacrifice all about us in brightened homes and better character, in beauties and joys springing up, in renewed society, in good institutions, and in benefits prepared by our hands and enjoyed by others, and yet never to hear our names spoken in praise or honor, perhaps to hear the shouts of applause given to the names of others?
And yet is it not thus that we are to live as followers of Christ? Honor is to be sought for him. We are to seek to be blessings in the world, to breathe inspiration everywhere, to shed quickening influences upon other lives, to impart helpfulness and noble impulse to all we meet, and then to disappear, so that men may not praise us, but may lift their hearts to Christ alone. Florence Nightingale, having gone like an angel of mercy among the hospitals in the Crimea until her name was enshrined in every soldier’s heart, asked to be excused from having her picture taken, as thousands begged, that she might drop out and be forgotten, and that Christ alone might be remembered as the author of the blessings her hands had ministered. That is the true Christian spirit.
And in this way we may all learn to live too if we will. In this way countless lowly ones have lived, and are living continually.
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