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What a variety of uses the eye of the servant has. First he watches for the signal of his
master that he may render prompt obedience. Then he desires to behold the wondrous
things hidden in the Word, and at the same time prays that he may have his eyes turned
away from vanity. His eyes, too, shed tears, because men do not keep the Word, and
often cut short the hours of sleep that the Word of God may be better understood.
Coming to the N.T., we learn the value of the "single eye" (Matt. 6: 22), the relative
importance of the "mote" and the "beam" (Matt. 7: 3-5), a lesson none can learn too
well. To the Church of the Laodiceans the Lord speaks of the anointed eye (Rev. 3: 18),
which makes us think of the anointed ear.
Service must not be so construed in terms of activity, of business, of doing, that it
leaves no time for hearing and for seeing. Service that is not regulated by the anointed
ear and the anointed eye remains unblessed.
#9. Symbols of Service.
Fishers, forsakers and followers.
pp. 101 - 103
The first disciples called by the Lord were fishers:--
"And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto
them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their
nets, and followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James
the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending
their nets: and He called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father and
followed Him" (Matt. 4: 18-22).
In this passage we have two of the symbols that we are to consider in this article: the
"fisher" and the "follower".
The Lord found these men "by the sea", where one would expect to find men of their
calling. He did not look for them in the market-place, or in the field, or in the town. This
at least is one good qualification for higher service. These men were diligent in their
business, and not wasting time in vain efforts to do some other kind of work. While it is
commendable to seek to advance and improve one's position, it is possible for there to be
a restlessness and false pride which is very harmful. Those who have any responsibility
in the choice of candidates for Christian service would do well to bear this in mind. It is
recorded that one of the qualifications of a young man who applied to 100: H. Spurgeon for
admission into the Pastor's College was that he had made a failure of every job he had
undertaken; hence he felt called to the ministry. We can readily understand Spurgeon
refusing such an application. In Christian service, most of us find that our own peculiar
temperament and manner of approach to things is not suppressed by the Lord when we