NO SERVICE OR MORAL WEIGHT WITHOUT SEPARATION
NO SERVICE OR MORAL WEIGHT WITHOUT SEPARATION
When we find ourselves in such a position as this, namely, with a better conscience and more respect for the truth of God than what is professed by those around us - it is important to see, and seeing, to maintain, the line of conduct in word and deed which will preserve one’s own soul from declension, and also maintain that moral influence which such a position requires. A Nazarite defiled his head if he suddenly touched a dead bone. The real difficulty in intercourse with unseparated saints, as with the world, is to remain reserved; that is, not to blend with them; not to allow them to think that my tastes run in the same line as theirs do. I hang my harp on the willows. I am ready to serve and even to please them, but never as pleasure to myself. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning” (Psalm 137: 5). If you are amused; if your [p. 56] humour blends, you are powerless, you are as one of them. You have so far lost weight, because you have lost the spirit of a serving one and are pleasing yourself. I do not want to make your life a burden - far otherwise; for you will find that the moment you sink to their moral level, you expose yourself to their power to make you feel your position; but while you preserve for your own conscience’ sake, for their sake, and for the Lord’s sake, reserve, as I term it, that is, not lending yourself to their invitations, whether intellectual or social, you are on ground above them; they will never trespass on you except for service - and service of the better kind, too; and you are always, through the grace keeping you, ready and prepared to serve them in every way. I know you will be sorely solicited, and your natural temperament will desire to yield to the current which is carrying all around you with it. Of course I do not want you to be morose - that would be unnatural; but I do want you ever to remember that you are a servant - and that in the highest sense; which makes it the more imperative that you should not at any moment be induced by blandishment, or any solicitation on the part of those around you, to overlook your position, where all depends on the amount of moral influence with which you carry yourself. Your nature often may long for a fling which is natural and pleasant to it; but as you have accepted the place you are in, I am sure your desire and prayer is that you may fill it according to the mind of the Lord, and thus serve Him.
May He guide, help, and cheer you, as His servant, and then all will be well.