Bible Commentaries

WORKING FOR GOD: THE END OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

‘Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.’

Isaiah 3:10-11

Including under the term in the text of ‘our doings’ not only our external acts, but our will, our faith, our voluntary thoughts, desires, purposes, and intentions:—

Let us observe—

I. Their connection with one another.

We have a tendency to look on each action by itself, as if it stood isolated and alone. We must do so in some cases, because we cannot see the connection in which each action stands with others; but the connection exists whether we see it or not. We cannot see all that comes before, nor all that will follow after, every action of ourselves or others. But God sees every step that led to it, and will follow after it; for no action stands alone; each is a link in a chain stretching out to eternity.

Both good and evil actions fructify, and hence our Saviour compares them to seed sown in the ground. They grow and reproduce themselves in various forms. Whither their roots shall extend, and when shoot up again, whither their seed may be carried, where it may fall, and what it shall produce, who can tell? Sometimes the least promising seed will produce the most abundant return of fruit. So that we may not pronounce upon the importance of an action, for we do not see its connection; neither may we think any action trivial, for it may—I had almost said it must—lead to consequences of importance throughout eternity.

This brings us to consider—

II. The effect of our actions on ourselves and on others.

(1) On ourselves.

Every step we take not only brings us forward, but leaves a footprint behind. Every thought, word, action, all we suffer and all we do, not only has its own importance, and leads us forward in the march of life, but also leaves its impression, its footprint upon us, and tends to form, confirm, or change our character. For character is not perfected all at once; it unfolds like a bud, leaf by leaf; and that unfolding is hindered or forwarded, marred or brought to perfection, in dependence upon the sun, rain, warmth, cold, protection, or injury, and a thousand other external circumstances, each of which has its own effect, and leaves its own mark.

(2) Look next at the effect of our actions upon others. Every action of our lives, we have seen, affects our own character, and our character affects all about us. Not only our children, friends, servants, but all we have any intercourse with, are more or less affected by us. Every one knows the force of example, the impulse we have to imitate. Every one must have noticed the contagion, as it were, of opinion, which from house to house influences a whole circle of acquaintanceship. How often have you felt the devotion or the carelessness of the person kneeling by your side in church! How frequently must you have noticed the way in which you catch the habits and manners of those you live with; the way in which you too are watched, and observed, and copied by others. So that, if you did nothing directly to influence others, the effect of your indirect influence is yet incalculable.

—Canon Morse.

Illustration

‘The righteous are encouraged by the assurance that the judgments of God shall not be indiscriminate. The object of address seems to be not the prophets or ministers of God, but the people at large or men indefinitely. Whatever becomes of the unrighteous nation, let the righteous man know that he shall not be lost in the crowd of sinners: the Judge of all the earth will not slay the righteous with the wicked (Genesis 18:25); no, assure him, in God’s name, that it shall be well with him. The property of the trouble shall be altered to him, and he shall be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.’