God does not overload His own

“And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey” (Matt. 25:15).

“Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be” (Deut. 33:25).

God will not give to any of His people a larger measure of duty than they can fairly overtake; He will not give to the man with one talent the task belonging to the man with two, or to the man with two the task that appertains to more richly gifted natures. He is not the “hard man” who grinds to powder those who serve Him. He knows us altogether. He tenderly loves us, and having measured out our sufficient task, He will put upon us none other burden. But some complain: “As a matter of fact, are we not over-weighted? Is not human life generally too intense, too crowded, too burdensome?” Perhaps this is so; but there are two questions we may put to ourselves. How far do we overweight ourselves? We do it in ignorance, in covetousness, in ambition, in vanity. Many would carry far lighter burdens if only they were more lowly, content, and trustful. Do we not also overweight one another? Through our want of thought, equity, and sympathy we aggravate our neighbor’s burden.

Let us not live fretful lives. God will never stretch the line of our duty beyond the measure of our strength. We ought to live with the grace of the flowers, with the joy of the birds, with the freedom of the wind and wave. Without question this is God’s ideal of human life. We are expected to do no more than we can do with the time granted us, with the tools, the material, and the opportunity at our disposal. We serve no Egyptian taskmaster who watches to double the tale of bricks, but a generous Lord Who waits to make our duty our delight.—W. L. Watkinson.

—Adeline Braithwaite.