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IS YOUR work a task? If so, why? Is it because—of your own self-will and against God’s ordering—you have chosen some labor of which he does not approve? Is your trade or your profession a dishonest one? Does what brings profit to you bring evil to others or dishonor on the cause of God? Then the quicker you abandon that work the better. However profitable it may seem to you, however much it coincides with your own most intense desires, it can never be otherwise than a task. You will never find your calling, until you listen to the voice of God; you will never find freedom save in obedience to the law of God.

But if your work is a task simply because your answer to God’s cause has been half hearted, or because you think you could have chosen your work more wisely had the choice been left to you, the remedy is easy. Give the whole heart to God’s service; cast out the rebellious thought—it is a delusion born only of your discontent and brooding. The moment you accept God’s ordering, that moment your work ceases to be task and becomes your calling. The secret of what is best in the Christian life finds expression in the precept of Paul, “Work heartily! … ye serve the Lord Christ.”—Sel.

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— February, 1886 —