"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.' Matthew 25:21
Many people measure a man's power or effectiveness by the noise he makes in the world. . . . Young men, when they start in life, usually think they must make all the noise they can, else their lives will be failures. They must make their voices heard loud above the din and clamour of the world, else they must remain unknown and die in obscurity. But thoughtful, observant years always prove how little real power their is in "the bray of brass." Life is measured by its final and permanent results. . . . It will be seen, in the great consummation, that those who have wrought silently and without clamour or fame have in many cases achieved the most glorious permanent results.
There are great multitudes of lowly lives lived on the earth which have no name among men, whose work no pen records, no marble immortalises, but which are well know and unspeakably dear to God, and whose influence will be seen, in the end, to reach to farthest shores. . . .
Much of the best work we do in this world is done unconsciously. There are many people who are so busied in what is called secular toil that they can find few moments to give to works of benevolence. But they come out every morning from the presence of God and go to their daily business or toil, and all day, as they move about, they drop gentle words from their lips and scatter seeds of kindness along their path. . . .
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 night, when men are sleeping and when no one can witness its beautiful work. . . . In the morning their is fresh beauty everywhere and new life. The fields look greener, the gardens are more fragrant, and all nature glows and sparkles with new splendour.
Is there no suggestion here as to the manner in which we should seek to do good in this world? . . . . "When thou doest thine alms, let not thy left hand know what they 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. . . .
Honour 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 here 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. . . .
It is the quiet, unheralded lives that are silently building up the Kingdom of Heaven. Not much note is taken of them here. They are not reported in the newspapers. Their monuments will not make much show in the churchyard. Their names will not be passed down to posterity with many wreaths about them. But their work is blessed, and not one of them is forgotten. . . .
Not a life lived for God is useless or lost. The lowliest writes its history and leaves its impression somewhere, and God will open His books at the last, and men and angels will read the record. . . . And in Heaven they will receive their reward--not praise of men, but open confession by the Lord Himself--in the presence of the angels and of the Father.
Dr J R Miller, Week-Day Religion, 1897
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