Bible Reading: Mt 5:38-42
Read and Pray: "And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two." (Mt 5:41)
All who serve the Lord need to receive a burden and have a burden. This also applies to the sisters, although they are not involved in the administration of the church or in preaching messages. If they share together and visit people just because it is time to do so, they are doing everything out of obligation.
They must seek to know what their sharing and visits have produced. They must know the condition of the sisters under their care. They should not say: "As long as the Lord works in them, they will be fine. But if the Lord does not work in them, there is nothing we can do." We need to receive a genuine burden.
Although many sisters have the desire to serve the Lord, few have risen to serve Him in recent times. The brothers, however, continue serving as always. We must note that the sisters’ situation is not good and receive the burden to encourage them.
We also need to analyze the results of our gospel preaching. We need to ponder why so many are still not saved, despite there being so many sinners. Some must rise up to receive the burden to preach the gospel until someone is saved. We need to have a burden.
The problem is that we gradually incline toward responsibility in service, and we lack a burden. Since most of our prayers are without burden, the prayer meetings produce no effect.
If someone is saved when we preach the gospel, we thank and praise the Lord. But if no one is saved, we remain at peace. When we preach messages, we are at peace even when they produce no effect. The same applies to the administration of the church and the visits to the brothers; we are at peace even if there is no result.
Since this is our condition, our prayer is out of obligation, not flowing from a burden. If we pray with a burden, our prayer meeting will be different. Some will mourn with intensity and grief, feeling that they cannot continue in the same way. They will realize that the preaching of the gospel, the administration of the church, and the condition of the meetings are unsatisfactory. This kind of prayer flows from a burden.
Some say it is easy to lose the burden after some time. However, those who received mercy receive burdens continuously. It is a very serious problem if our burden disappears after we have worked for some time. Nevertheless, a Christian can continue working out of obligation, even if he has no burden, because his conscience bothers him if he stops.
Whenever our service becomes a matter of fulfilling an obligation, our service has already degraded. Genuine service is never a matter of obligation but of burden; the burden always goes beyond the obligation.
Enjoy more: Hymn 422
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