Devotion possible in the Busiest Life.
We may learn from our Lord's life of toil, that there is nothing in a life of perpetual labour to hinder our attaining to the highest measure of perfection. There was never any one whose life was fuller of endless employments, or more broken by countless interruptions than His. This may show us that the most laborious may be the holiest of saints. There are, however, two objections which may be made against this example. One is that He, being sinless, must needs be independent of the means and conditions on which holiness depends in us, and therefore could suffer no obstruction by the multitude of His employments. The other is, that His work was not secular but sacred. One answer will suffice for both these objections.
I. It is true that He, being sinless, must necessarily be beyond the power of the worldly hindrances which obstruct a life of devotion to us. But is there not something really unsound in the idea that anything which is our duty in life can be an obstruction to any other duty? Surely the truth must be, that whatsoever in our daily life is lawful and right for us to be engaged in, is itself a part of our obedience to God; a part, that is, of our very religion! A life of devotion does not mean a life of separation from active duties, but the discharge of all offices, high or low, from the most sacred and elevated to the most secular and menial, in a devout spirit.
II. But we may go farther, and say not only that the duties of life, be they never so toilsome and distracting, are no obstructions to a life of any degree of inward holiness, but that they are even direct means, when rightly used, to promote our sanctification. The weariness, crosses, disappointments, vexations, which arise in our daily tasks; the early hours and late; the crowding and thronging of the multitude all these are but as the dust, ashes, and sackcloth of our just humiliation.
III. Another benefit in continual employment is, that it acts as a great check upon the temptations which beset an unoccupied and disengaged man. Next to prayer and a life of devotional habits there is nothing that keeps the heart so pure, and the will so strong and steadfast, as a life of continual duty.
H. E. Manning, Sermons,vol. ii., p. 305.
References: Mark 6:30-32. A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve,p. 107; W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 214.Mark 6:30-34. H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 134.Mark 6:30-37. J. W. Burn, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xx., p. 36.