We must be aggressive. I hope that the young people who are serving full time will study Greek. There are even good videotapes available that teach Greek. In order to serve the Lord, you must be immersed in the Lord’s Word and spend time in it. Hence, you must learn some Greek. Some may wonder when they can find the time to learn Greek. You can find the time to learn Greek by spending less time for your meals, your sleep, talking on the phone, conversing, and reading the newspaper. Saving time in this way is what the Scriptures call “redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16). For example, it is important to know the world situation, but for this there is a need to read only the international section of the newspaper.
Since I understand the Bible and the truth, and I also know history, I know the spiritual application of history. The book The World Situation and God’s Move proves that I have a thorough understanding of world history. Hence, you need to study a little history and know the world situation. This will help you in serving the Lord. If you know history and the world situation, you will understand people and different circumstances. Young people should have this kind of training. You must be aggressive. The more you learn, the more useful you will be.
You should not rely on the diploma from your school; instead, you should study hard and be aggressive. You are still young and full of potential. Your time is precious; you must redeem every minute by learning everything related to serving the Lord. In addition to Chinese, you should study at least two other languages: Greek and English. This will help you.
You should also be aggressive to learn how to converse with others and how to speak for the Lord. You should learn how to have the proper attitude, expression, and gestures when you converse with others. I have studied all these matters. In 1927 I realized that I would spend my whole life preaching the Lord’s word. I did not study theology, nor did I study methods of preaching, but I came up with two ways to practice—I would preach to the ocean, and I would stand before a mirror and practice preaching. This practice helped me greatly. When it was time for me to stand up to give a message, everyone was surprised and asked where I had learned to speak. I also learned how to contact others and to use proper mannerisms in greeting or shaking hands with others so that I could earn others’ respect
You should not think that these matters are unrelated to serving the Lord. When we go out to contact people, our attitude, expression, speaking, and conduct have much to do with serving the Lord. If we are proper in these aspects, we will give others the impression that we are a weighty person who does not act rashly or frivolously. Thus, what we say will be taken into consideration by others. Our work consists of nothing but speaking with others to help and to enlighten them. If the way we speak or conduct ourselves is not acceptable, no matter what we say, others will have a negative impression of us, and this will nullify everything. Therefore, I advise you to learn all these things.
Those who learn to be diplomats must be trained to contact people. Not only must they be courteous, but they must also have a certain demeanor. A diplomat represents his country. Therefore, when he meets with the heads of other countries, he must have a proper demeanor in order to gain others’ respect before he can gain their trust. We are not uplifting ourselves, but when we speak for the Lord, we are what Paul calls an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20; Eph. 6:20). Hence, we should learn to speak and conduct ourselves with gravity even though we are young. We should not be hasty in our speaking; rather, when we speak, we should consider to whom we are speaking, what to say, how much to say, and when to stop speaking.
We must learn all these things because we represent the Lord. Suppose you are a young sister who recently graduated from college. You will know how to conduct yourself and how to speak with gravity if you are properly aggressive. The saints in your small group will be impressed and think that you are special. If the Spirit leads you, you can pray a few simple and weighty sentences. After the meeting, you will not be frivolous; rather, your contact with others will be proper before leaving. This will leave the saints in your small group with the impression that you are a person who is worthy of respect. Even your reading of the Bible should be proper in a small group. If you conduct yourself in this way, the saints in your group will be gained by your proper reading. Thus, over time you will build up a certain amount of credibility among them.
The Lord raised up a church in my hometown when I was young. A year later the Lord led me to leave my job, and after that He took me to Shanghai. At that time I prayed that the Lord would give me wisdom to know how to go out and come in among His people (cf. 2 Chron. 1:9-10). I prayed this for at least two or three years, and I believe that the Lord heard my prayer. We must be aggressive. We should pray concerning the way we dress. We should consider even the style and the color of the clothes we wear. We must not love fashion. As soon as we dress fashionably, we sell ourselves cheaply. However, we should not dress like an old person. When we pray concerning how to dress appropriately, the Lord will lead us.
You should conduct yourselves such that others consider you as weighty young persons full of gravity. If others have this impression of you, your words will have weight. People will be amazed that you are only in your twenties, and they will treasure and receive your words.
I was saved through the gospel preached by Sister Peace Wang. I was not yet twenty years old then, and she was a young woman who was six years older than I. When she preached the gospel in my hometown, I went to hear her out of curiosity. As she was speaking, I was greatly touched, and I received everything she said. I was genuinely saved at that time. Seven years later the Lord raised up a church in my hometown, and in the spring of the following year, around March or April, she was the first person who came to visit us. We observed her attitude, her mannerisms, her way of contacting people, and the way she handled things. Everything she did impressed us. At that time she was a very influential sister in Christianity. No matter what she did, whether she was standing to give a message or sitting down, she impressed others. It was not only the power in her spirit that impressed others, but much more it was her demeanor.
You must learn all these things. You should not behave in a loose or crazy way, nor should you be old fashioned or too conservative. You must pray and learn to be appropriate. Even how we style our hair requires much learning. We must not forget that serving the Lord is contacting people, and an important part of contacting people is our appearance, because this affects the impression that others have of us. Hence, we must be aggressive to learn, even in the matter of cutting our hair.
These points illustrate that we must learn to be aggressive in everything. If the two hundred full-timers are aggressive to learn, even your hairstyle and clothing will show others your quality. All these things are related to your serving the Lord; hence, you must be aggressive, not casual, in everything.