What Not to Do—How Not to Act

What Not to Do—How Not to Act

Do not give in to the lust to preach. This is an affliction that causes more anguish to others than it causes you. The symptoms are a tingling feeling in the body whenever an opportunity to speak presents itself. Frequently, the infected person moves toward the podium even before we have sung the last verse of the song. When he speaks, he is blessed more by the sound of his own voice than he ever is in his silence. When he speaks at length, the agony of the assembly becomes almost unbearable. Yet, the speaker is so enthralled by hearing his own voice that he is oblivious to the desperate state of the assembly. If you suffer from the lust to preach, pray that God will save you from this wretchedness.

If you have received some knowledge, do not behave as if you are the only one who knows anything, because this, too, is arrogance, and in due time it will be exposed as folly. If anyone thinks he knows something, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.

Do not be concerned about getting honor, because it is not the one who honors himself who is approved, but he whom God honors.

When you praise a brother, examine yourself to be sure you are not doing it to expose the faults of another.

Be a good steward over your income and your expenses; make sure that the latter do not exceed the former, and in this way bring disgrace to the name of God and His church.

Do not strive to be someone important in an outward way in the church. Yet, in your hidden life it is your right and obligation to do so.

If you visit a different assembly, take the lowest place, because even if you are the most capable among them, you are what you are and can easily bear sitting in the lowest place. It is better to be told to move up rather than down—not so much for your own sake as for the sake of the others.

The person who constantly considers only himself and his own comfort will decrease his circle of friends, but he who serves others and bears their burdens will always have a growing number of friends.

Don’t only speak from the platform or the podium; exercise yourself in winning people one by one.

Great men have become great by being careful and conscientious in small things, so don’t imagine that you can become great by doing great things if you are careless in little things. The little foxes destroy the vineyard. Many who wanted to do heroic deeds have fallen as fools.

Do not seek peace with someone who does not have peace himself. But if you have peace, endeavor to pass it on to him. Fighting a battle usually results in a far greater peace than peace in name only. This is also part of fighting the good fight of faith.

Preachers who place greater value on the quantity rather than the quality of the people they are preaching to are more concerned with their own income than the furtherance of the kingdom of God. On this point, there should be a difference between you and them.

Take more care to be inconspicuous than to be seen, because something rare is more desirable and more valuable than something commonplace. A priest for God seeks the honor of God, but a priest for the people seeks the honor of the people.