Mental Prayer Meditation Helps
Presence of God
Grace I Ask: The grace to think clearly and calculate well about the most important thing in life.
The Idea and My Personal Application: Let's be cold-bloodedly businesslike about this challenge of Christ's. He won't mind. Christ asks me to dedicate my life and all my actions to helping bring the world to Him - no matter what my age, my talents, or my state in life.
Objections
1. Now, first of all, I don't have to do that much to save my soul.
2. People don't take religion that seriously nowadays.
3. Why mind other people's business?
4. This work for Christ might be very unpleasant. The Gospels speak of persecution, of being rejected by the world. I know that the more sincerely people try to follow Christ, the more those statements come true in their lives.
5. It means hard work for the good of others, not for myself. That is a kind of a contradiction of everything people ordinarily believe and practice.
But on the other hand :
Advantages
I. This is a most noble way to live, working toward a great goal instead of plodding along aimlessly.
2. This is a job I can't fail at in the long run. Christ's cause will conquer.
3. Best of all, our Leader has gone before us in our labor. His life has been a marvel to all succeeding ages. Those who have followed His example have been the world's greatest men and women.
Well, what is my personal application, my personal response?
I Speak to God: Open my eyes to see my own real, best interests. Help me to think straight and choose well.
Thought for Today: "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"
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Adapted from Mental Prayer, Challenge to the Lay Apostle
by The Queen's Work,(© 1958)
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