Many in the Lord’s service have a big problem in their character—laziness. I have several points to cover concerning this matter. This is by no means a great doctrine, yet it has much to do with our usefulness to the Lord. The first characteristic of one who serves the Lord must be diligence. A lazy person is useless to God. Can you find a verse in the Bible which tells us that God spoke to Moses in the evening? On the contrary, in a number of instances God called Moses early and told him to go in the morning to a certain place to meet Pharaoh. Dear brothers and sisters, a slothful person can never be useful to God. Diligence must be built into our blood.
I do not wish to find fault with you, but I feel that I have a responsibility before the Lord to say this to you: some of you impress me as being lazy. There are many proofs of this. Forgive me for telling you that you are lazy. O brothers! O sisters! Allow me the liberty to say this, and believe what I say. I was once your age. I have also passed through what you are now learning and pursuing regarding the Lord’s service. I am clear by watching you from the sidelines. I realize that you are not intentionally lazy but are so because there is not the element of diligence in your character. Because your past living, circumstances, and habits did not help to build diligence into your character, you now are short of it.
At this point I must ask all of you, even the Chinese people, to forgive me. Today, our country is not strong enough, not what it should be. We are making progress too slowly in politics, the economy, social condition, and education. Why is this? Rather than criticizing the leaders of the government, we must put the blame on our national character. We need to realize that the Chinese have a poor character. We are irresponsible, frivolous, and lazy; we pass the buck. With this kind of character, how can we succeed in building up a nation? I believe that our country would be strong if all those of average education were diligent.
My point is that since we Chinese are born in such a situation, when we serve God, we encounter many problems. As we have been raised in such an environment, if we are not completely revolutionized within, and if we bring our national character into the Lord’s service, our service will never be successful. Such is an improper character. How deeply I am grieved concerning this matter. In our present condition, we would probably make a great work small and a small work disappear. This has everything to do with our character.
Another common condition is that most of you do not do things earnestly; you lack aggressiveness and simply try to get by. You always begin something without finishing it. Your belongings are disorderly. And when you say that you are short of time, it is because you are loose and waste time. If this is how you brothers and sisters do things, could your Bible study be any different? If you do things sloppily, how can you be careful in your Bible study? Your character will be the same in everything you do.
I have often criticized the way you dress. I do not refer to the quality of your clothing. I realize from the way you dress that there is a shortage in your character. Your carelessness and sloppiness are seen in the way you dress. If you are careless in dressing, could you be fine in Bible study? Could you do your work well? Could your work be prevailing, and could it produce valuable results? I do not believe so. What you do always reflects your character. I say again, unless this character is replaced and a new one built up, you will be useless in God’s hand. O brothers, you must exercise yourself in these daily matters to build up something in yourself so that the divine fire can burn upon you.
Do not think that I am stressing outward things. Also, do not assume that to emphasize character is unspiritual. Are you genuinely spiritual with such a faulty character? Brothers and sisters, I say again, you must build up a proper character. Unless this is built up in you, your usefulness to the Lord will be limited.
I hope that from now on especially the young people will begin to build up a character that is useful to the Lord, so that every aspect of their living will be fit for the Lord’s use.
The Lord Jesus said that one who is faithful in the least will be faithful in much (Luke 16:10). If your dress, your home, and the things you do reveal that you are a careless and passive person, how can your service to the Lord be aggressive? It is hardly possible. If you have not built up a proper character, you can give only an ordinary message, not a prevailing one. Your prayers also will be ordinary, not prevailing. They will be the same today as they were two years ago, showing no progress at all. Brothers, we must improve our character; otherwise, we will accomplish nothing. Even if we receive grace, we will not be able to minister that grace in spirit, because we are simply not qualified.
I realize that my speaking has been somewhat fragmented, but I hope that from now on you will seize every occasion, large and small, to build up your character so that you will be suitable for God’s use. Because of your character, you do not receive any great light in reading the Bible, as others do. You would merely gloss over chapter one of the Gospel of Matthew, which speaks of Christ’s genealogy. Why did Matthew speak of Christ’s genealogy, whereas John did not? A person with a seeking character will definitely ask questions when he comes to this passage. May the Lord have mercy on us. I cannot speak too much in detail; I can only lay down a principle here. Just remember, our usefulness to God will be manifested only when we have a character suitable for His use.