Quiet Talks on Service: Following Our Lord Jesus in a Life of Purposeful Service [Updated and Annotated]

The emphasis of our age is doing. But first draw near to our Lord, and then His light in you will pierce the darkness of our age.Note keenly that true touch with God always brings the longing to be pure and the love of one's fellow man. The nearer one gets to God, the nearer he will find himself getting to men. Often we find ourselves getting wonderful new glimpses of God as we are eagerly helping somebody. Up seems to include out, as though the line that drew us up to God led through men, even while it is simultaneously true that the more one is in touch with God, the more one desires to be alone with Him.There are always three turnings of a true life: upward, inward, and outward. Upward to God, inward to self, and outward to the world. The more one knows God, the keener is the longing to get away with Him alone, the deeper is the yearning to be pure, and the stronger is the passion to help others regardless of any sacrifice involved.Our lives must have their source high up in the mountains of God, fed by a ceaseless supply. Only so can there be the purity and momentum that will keep us pure and that will keep us moving down in contact with the men of the earth. And we must keep closer to the source than the Rhône at Geneva, or else the streams flowing alongside will unduly influence us.Constant personal contact with Jesus is the ever-new beginning of service.