REVIEW LESSON.
-MARCH 29.-
Golden Text.-“Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world!”-Matt. 28:20.
REVIEWING the lessons
of the quarter, showing the missionary labors of the Apostle, and introducing
to us a number of his colaborers, our principal thoughts may well be that the
same gospel is still being preached-Jesus and the resurrection;-that the
privilege of being ministers of this gospel, and colaborers with our Lord, is
still open to us; that the rewards of such ministry may still be won by us;
indeed, it is well that we get the thought that every member of the Church
glorified will have been an active member of the Church militant-warring
against the Adversary and his works, and influence.
Whether our warfare be of the more public kind or of the more private sort,
there must be warfare, and more than this, there must be progress and victory,
else we can never be accepted of the Lord as “overcomers.”
Another thought should be borne in mind by us all; viz., that while
we have gifts differing one from the other, and are, therefore, able to
contribute to the Lord’s cause relatively larger or smaller amounts of energy
or service or wealth, the Lord in making his estimate
will take knowledge of the spirit which actuated us, rather than of the results
secured by our efforts; so that of some small talent it may be said, as
it was said of the poor widow who cast in the two mites into the Lord’s
treasury,-that the smaller gift was more appreciated by the Lord than some of
the larger ones. In view of this, let us see to it,
not only that we do with our might what our hands find to do, but also that our
every sacrifice and gift to the Lord and his cause is so full of love and
devotion that the Lord will surely approve it; as done from love for him and
his, and not from vain glory.
The Golden Text of this lesson contains a precious thought,-that
the Lord has been with his representatives in all their labors of love and
self-denial, throughout the entire age, noting their efforts, assisting,
encouraging, sustaining them, and surely watering and refreshing all who are
making his service their special object in life,-ministering his grace to
others, watering and feeding them. And if this has been true in the past, all
through the age, how specially true we may realize it to be now, in the end of
the age, in the time of harvest, in the time of our Lord’s second presence! How
we may realize that he is with us, in sympathy, in cooperation, in assistance,
in sustaining grace,-able and willing to make all of our experiences profitable
to us, and to use us abundantly in showing forth the praises of him who has
called us out of darkness into his marvelous light!
Let these thoughts quicken us to fresh and greater energies, and to an
appreciation of the fact that the things of this present time are but
transitory (both its joys and its sorrows); and that the ambitions and hopes of
the world are not worthy of comparison with these noble and laudable ambitions
to serve and to please our Master, and to have his rewards-the chief of which
will be fellowship with himself in glory, and the privilege of being colaborers
with him in the blessing of the world,-the grand fulfillment of the heavenly
Father’s gracious plans for the world of mankind.