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| Rev. George C. Needham (1840-1902) |
"The true missionary spirit: —Brave Paul! He spoke the Word, whether sinners would hear or not, whether men were converted or not. If it pleased God he was content. Just like that grand man who kept working away in isolation in the heart of China, and for years saw no conversion. A lady said to him, 'What good are you doing in China, Mr. Burns?' To which he replied, 'Madam, I did not go to China to convert the Chinese, I went to glorify God.' He went to serve and please his Master. I was asked to examine a young man who wanted to give up his business and go to Africa as a missionary. I asked him, 'What is your motive in wanting to take this step? Suppose you go to the heart of Africa, and, seeing thousands bowing down before their idols and refusing to hear of Christ, what would you do?' He replied, 'I'd just keep pegging away.' That is the right spirit of service: to keep pegging away for the Master, not to please the society, not to have a large place on the statistics, not to have a great following, but to please God. If we go forth to any service according to the will of God, and only to please Him. He will bless us in our souls, and in the end give us to see His power in the salvation of sinners."[1]
Reference:
[1] G. C. Needham, quoted by the Rev. Joseph S. Exell in The Biblical Illustrator, Thessalonians, (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1887), p. 48.
2 comments:
Thank you for this post it places things in perspective. I often get tied up with wanting to get people saved in numbers. Many old friends, and family have denied the gospel message, and I often get discouraged. I don't give up, but there are periods and days where I can feel apathetic. Sometimes I want to drown in my apathy, but I'm reminded God is the one who took these types of feelings from me in the first place, they are not of him. Praise God that he is willing to use us in spite of our countless imperfections.
I heard J. Vernon McGee on the radio the other day say something that made me think of the topic of this post. Commenting on Haggai 2:9, McGee said:
"I think of that Scotch preacher, who turned in his resignation at the end of the year, and the elders asked him why? And he says, 'Well, we just haven't had any conversions this year except wee Bobby Moffat.' May I say to you, that poor preacher couldn't see that 'wee Bobby Moffat' was the greatest work that that man ever did! For 'wee Bobby Moffat' was Robert Moffat, the great missionary to Africa who probably did as much if not more than David Livingston in opening Africa to Christian missions. That preacher didn't see that in the light of the future. And you and I today, need to recognize that we need to see things in the light of God's plan and purpose for our lives."
I also want to quote a statement by Joe Gibbs related to this. In an article titled "The Single Biggest Mistake In My Life," Gibbs writes:
"There is a second question in all of this and it's found in Haggai. Haggai answers the question of: who is doing the great work? For some of us, we say, 'I just teach a Sunday school class,' or 'I just witness to my friends at work.' I think back to a J. Vernon McGee study and he told the story of a preacher in Scotland. The preacher came to the church one day and said I'm resigning from the ministry. The congregation asked why and he explained that in the year he had been at the church, only one person had come to Christ and it was the wee Bobby Moffat (which meant he was a little guy). Little did this preacher know that Bobby Moffat would later become the evangelist Robert Moffat who went to Africa and opened up a whole continent to Christianity. Here is someone who impacted tens of thousands of people. So, for you and I, we need to be faithful to the Lord whatever our ministry is and however 'small' it seems."
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