An Undivided Heart

He who thinks to succeed in this infinite business of saving souls with a heart that is divided as yet knows nothing as he ought to know concerning the matter.

The soul-winner, then, must once and for all, abandon himself to the Lord and to the Lord's work, and, having put his hand to the plow, must not look back, if he would succeed in this mighty business.

Here it is that many fail; they have not a single eye. They make provisions for retreat. They are double-minded ... forgetting Paul's words to Timothy: "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him that hath chosen him to be a soldier." (2 Tim. 2:4.)

If God has set you to win souls, O my brother, make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Cut the bridge down behind you. Remember Paul's words to Timothy: "Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all."

Let your eye be single, make no plan for retreat, allow no thought of it. Remember Paul's "Woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel."

Like Jesus, set your face steadfastly toward your Jerusalem, your cross, your kingdom, your glory, when, having turned many to righteousness, you "shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." (Dan. 12:3.)

You may be ignorant and illiterate, your abilities may be very limited, you may have a stammering tongue, and be utterly lacking in culture, but you can have an undivided a perfect heart toward God and the work He has set you to do, and this is more than all culture and all education, all gifts and graces of person and brain. If God has bestowed any of these upon you, see to it that they are sanctified, and that your trust is not in them. But if He has denied them to you, He yet hath called you to the fellowship of His Son, and to His service. Be not dismayed; it is not the perfect head, but the perfect heart which God blesses. For has He not said, "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him"?


[Samuel Logan Brengle, The Soul-Winner's Secret]