| Making the Most of Life |
Chapter 2 |
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Da Vinci at last tremblingly seized the brush and kneeling before the easel prayed: “It is for the sake of my beloved master that I implore skill and power for this undertaking.” As he proceeded, his hand grew steady; his eye awoke with slumbering genius. He forgot himself and was filled with enthusiasm for his work. When the painting was finished, the old master was carried into the studio to pass judgment on the result. His eye rested on a triumph of art. Throwing his arms about the young artist, he exclaimed, “My son, I paint no more.”
There are some who shrink from undertaking the work which the Master gives them to do. They are not worthy; they have no skill or power for the delicate duty. But to all their timid shrinking and withdrawing, the Master’s gentle yet urgent word is, “Do your best.” They have only to kneel in lowly reverence and pray, for the beloved Master’s sake, for skill and strength for the task assigned, and they will be inspired and helped to do it well. The power of Christ will rest upon them, and the love of Christ will be in their heart. And all work done under this blessed inspiration will be acceptable unto God. We have but truly to lay the living sacrifice on the altar; then God will send the fire.
We need to get this matter of consecration down out of the cloud land into the region of actual, common daily living. We sing about it and pray for it and talk of it in our religious meetings, ofttimes in glowing mood, as if it were some exalted state with which earth’s life of toil, struggle, and care had nothing whatever to do. But the consecration suggested by the living sacrifice is one that walks on the earth, that meets life’s actual duties, struggles, temptations, and sorrows, and that falters not in obedience, fidelity, or submission, but follows Christ with love and joy wherever he leads. No other consecration pleases God.
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