To Be, or Not To Be Faithful

I

recall during my years in school that I would often wish that a tiny drop of brainpower could be added to my brain so that the difficult subjects would be easy! But as you know, this was only wishful thinking. Knowledge is obtained only by hours of study and there are no shortcuts.

` When it comes to getting people to attend services faithfully and working tirelessly in the vineyard of the Lord, we may long for something magic. But my friends, the WILL to be faithful must come from within each person. We can encourage one another (and should), but in the end, one’s heart must respond.

Dale Carnegie once wrote: “There is only one way under high Heavens to get anybody to do anything. Did you ever stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it.

Of course, you can make a man want to give you his watch by sticking a revolver in his ribs. You can make an employee give you cooperation—until your back is turned—by threatening to fire him. You can make a child do what you want it to do by a whip or a threat. But these crude methods have sharply undesirable repercussions.”

I thank God for all who WANT to serve Him—who WANT to go to heaven some day. These are the ones who will be faithful until death. As to others who do not want to be faithful, we must continue to visit them, preach to them, teach them, and set before them the right example. But until we are able to help them WANT to serve the Lord, our chances of success are very slim.

Remember! Only the faithful until death will receive eternal life. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). —BBBristow