February 20

Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep. — John xxi. 17.

The threefold command to Peter, first of all to care for
February 20.

the sustenance of the least, then to guide and direct the

more advanced, and then to open the deepest stores of God’s truth, and

impart wisdom as well as guidance to all, of all stages, — these are the

charges which love wins for its honour and its crown. Of course, these

injunctions apply primarily to the Apostles, and subordinately to the

teachers of the Church who still remain; but they also apply to all of us,

in our measure and degree. The lesson is just this: the spring of all

service to men is love to Christ. Historically it has been so.

A wider and a wiser philanthropy has sprung within the limits of the Christian Church than anywhere else. That love is the great antagonist of selfishness; that love imbues men with Christ’s own spirit; that love leads me to care for all that Christ cares for. It is a poor affection that does not cherish the property of an absent friend. If one that is dear to us, going away to the other side of the world, says to us, “Will you take care of my dog till I come back again? “we shall care for it if we care for him. And when He says to us, “Care for My sheep,” we shall not have much love for the Shepherd if we forget the flock.

Therefore, let us further learn, dear friend, that all so-called Christian service which does not rest on the basis of love to Jesus Christ is profitless and naught. People complain that after all the preaching and Sunday-school teaching and the like, so few results should be found. My belief is that we get as much success as we work for, and that if some power could make inaudible every word of our preaching that had been spoken from other motives than love to Jesus Christ, many an eloquent sermon would have little left. And if every line in our religious books which had been written from other motives were expunged, what gaps on the page there would be! How many names would fade out of our subscription lists! How many of your Christian activities would disappear if that test were applied to them! And do you expect God to bless the work which is no Christian service at all — unless its foundation has been laid in love to the Master?