Labour for the Lord

This excerpt is from Light & Truth Vol. IV - The Lesser Epistles, 1870, and in it, Bonar tells us how God’s people should look at labouring for the Lord: working to be spent for Him.

Abound in the work of the Lord! Our whole life is to be filled up with this, like a vessel filled to overflowing with water. Our lives are to be like trees all covered with leaves and fruit; like fields and hills all clothed with grass; like streams all filled with water.

Our ‘labour’ (not work merely, but toil, however great) is not in vain. This we know. We are assured of this; and being thus assured, we labour. Vain labour is a hopeless thing; producing heartlessness and indifference. Labour that is sure of success and recompense, stimulates and cheers. That which makes our labour not in vain, is its connection with the Lord. That which makes our reward so sure and blessed, is its connection with the Lord. Our whole life, service, suffering, toil, are connected with Him; and it is this that prevents them from being fruitless or useless; it is this which ennobles them, and elevates them. Human labour is often fruitless, this never.

Be not weary in well-doing. Persevere; press on; endure hardness. Toil on, however rough and hard the work may be. First be a believer, and then a worker. Work diligently. Do thine own work, with thine own talents, and according to the measure of thine own gifts, whether these gifts be great or small. Thine own work is the work of the Lord. It is not the work of the flesh, or of self, or of man, or of a sect. It is the Master’s work; do it well and thoroughly; He will see to the success, and to the reward. Do it bravely and boldly. Do it independently of human help, or earthly applause, or the stimulus of ‘public opinion.’ Do it not as one of a multitude, not as part of a great and imposing organization; but as alone, with only the Master to lean upon, to guide, to cheer. Be not the hanger on of a party, or the slave of human rules, or the drudge of a committee, or the ‘right-hand man’ of a Diotrephes. Quit yourself like a man, like a Christian man, with a personality and responsibility all thine own.Follow the Lord.

Let thine eye be single; thine arm unhampered; thine heart uncramped; all thine actions and words simple and bold and free. Be the servant of no man; but listen only to the voice which says to thee, ‘Follow me;’ ‘always abound in the work of the Lord.’ There is no master worthy of being followed but He who bought us with His blood.

The following hymn appeared in Bonar’s Songs For The Wilderness, 1850. While it needs no explanation, it must be said that it certainly described the life of its writer, although it was not meant in any way to be autobiographical. Bonar worked tirelessly in the fields of the Lord, knowing that the day would come when his Master would surely say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Labour For Christ.

Go labour on! spend and be spent,—
Thy joy to do thy Father’s will:
It is the way the Master went,
Should not the servant tread it still?

Go labour on! ’tis not for nought,
All earthly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee not, men praise thee not;
The Master praises! what are men?

Go labour on! enough, enough,
If Jesus praise thee, if He deign
To notice ev’n thy willing mind,
No toil for him shall be in vain.

Go labour on! thy hands are weak,
Thy knees are faint, thy soul cast down;
Yet falter not,—the prize is near,
The throne, the kingdom, and the crown.

Go labour on,—while it is day,
The long dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work,—up from thy sloth,
It is not thus that souls are won.

See thousands dying at your side,
Your brethren, kindred, friends of home;
See millions perishing afar,
Haste brethren, to the rescue come.

Toil on, toil on; rebuke, exhort,
Be wise the souls of men to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Intreat, compel them to come in.

Toil on, toil on; them soon shalt find
For labour rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt them hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, “Behold I come.”

[Excerpts taken from The Life and Works of Horatius Bonar CD-Rom]