November 16

“I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut.” Revelation 3:8

If God is going to have a witness in the earth today, he must have the service of all his less-gifted servants, his “one-talent” men. We might imagine that if he were gracious to his Church, he would give us more people like Paul and Peter; but in fact he seldom does so. The Church of God is full of ordinary, one-talented believers, and if only we would abandon our personal ambitions and seek instead ways for them to serve him, wonderful things would happen.

The Church needs leaders, but it also needs brothers. I believe in authority, but I believe also in brotherly love. In Philadelphia they respected authority, for they kept the Lord‘s word and did not deny his name. But philadelphia in Greek means “brotherly kindness.” It was to these caring brothers and sisters that the door was opened. Let them set out to serve him together and not wait for the specialists; then we shall begin to see what the Church’s service really is.