"There was a man sent from God." John 1:6
He had his commission from God. He came as God's messenger on God's business. But each one of us is likewise "sent from God" into this world. If we are sent from God — then it is on some definite errand. God has a plan, a purpose, for each life. No immortal soul ever came by accident into this world, and none ever came without a mission. We ought to think of this.
People sometimes suppose that such men as Moses and John the Baptist and Paul were exceptions. They had their own specific mission; God sent them on very definite errands. But surely we common people are not sent from God in the same sense. We never saw God in a burning bush, nor received our commission directly from His lips. No angel came before our birth, to announce what we were to be and to do in this world. Unlike Paul, we had no revelation of bright glory smiting us down in blindness.
Yet, nevertheless are we "sent from God," every one of us — and have as definite a work allotted to us, as had Moses or John or Paul. Are we living out God's thought for us — what He had in view when He made us and sent us here? Are we doing in this world — what He wants us to do? These are important questions; and we should not stop short of honest answers to them, for we shall have to account to God at the end — for the way we have fulfilled our mission.
Any life is a failure, which does not accomplish that which God sent it into the world to do. We find our work and our mission, by simple obedience to God and submission to Him. He first prepares us for the place He is preparing for us — and then at the right time leads us into it. We can, indeed, miss our mission in this world — but only by taking our own way, rather than God's.
Be the first to react on this!
J.R. Miller (1840 - 1912)
Prolific author and pastor of Presbyterian churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois, Rev. James Russell Miller served the USCC as a field agent in the Army of the Potomac and Army of the Cumberland.J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia. J.R. Miller D.D.'s lasting fame is through his over 50 books. Many are still in publication.
James Russell Miller (March 20, 1840 - July 2, 1912) was a popular Christian author, Editorial Superintendent of the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and pastor of several churches in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
In 1857, James entered Beaver Academy and in 1862 he progressed to Westminster College, Pennsylvania, which he graduated in June, 1862. Then in the autumn of that year he entered the theological seminary of the United Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Mr. Miller resumed his interrupted studies at the Allegheny Theological Seminary in the fall of 1865 and completed them in the spring of 1867. That summer he accepted a call from the First United Presbyterian Church of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. He was ordained and installed on September 11, 1867.
J.R. Miller began contributing articles to religious papers while at Allegheny Seminary. This continued while he was at the First United, Bethany, and New Broadway churches. In 1875, Miller took over from Henry C. McCook, D.D. when the latter discontinued his weekly articles in The Presbyterian, which was published in Philadelphia.
Five years later, in 1880, Dr. Miller became assistant to the Editorial Secretary at the The Presbyterian Board of Publication, also in Philadelphia.