An All Around Ministry - C. H. Spurgeon (continued)
We are stewards, and not masters, and hence we must trade in our Master's Name, and not in our own. It is not ours to fabricate a religion, but to proclaim one; and even that proclamation is not to be made by our own authority, but it is ever to be based on that of our Lord. We are "laborers together with Him." If a brother sets up in business for himself, he will make a mess of it, and fall into spiritual bankruptcy before long. His credit will soon run out when his Master's Name is gone. We can do nothing in our heavenly merchandise without our Lord. Let us not attempt to act on our own account, but keep our place near our Chief in all lowliness of mind.
2. We may become false to our trust by acting as men-pleasers.
When the steward studies the good pleasure of the ploughman, or the whims of the servant-maid, everything must go wrong, for everything is out of place. We are influenced by one another, and we influence one another. The greatest are unconsciously affected in some measure by the least. The minister must be overwhelmingly influenced by the Lord his God, so that other influences may not warp him from his fidelity. We must resort continually to headquarters, and receive the Word from the mouth of the Lord
Himself, so that we may be kept straight and true; otherwise, we shall soon be biased, although we may not be aware of it. There must be no holding back to please one person, no rushing forward to satisfy another, no moving an inch even to gratify the whole community. We must not harp upon a certain string to win the