“They made me keeper of the vineyards;
But my own vineyard I have not kept.” (Song of Solomon 1:6)
Our attention is here drawn to a danger which is pre-eminently one of this day: the intense activity or our times may lead to zeal in service, to the neglect of personal communion [with Christ]. Such neglect will not only lessen the value of the service, but will also tend to incapacitate us for the highest service. If we are watchful over the souls of others, and neglect our own – if we are seeking to remove motes [splinters] from our brother’s eye, unmindful of the beam in our own, we shall often be disappointed with our powerlessness to help our brethren, while our Master will not be less disappointed in us.
Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do, and that all fruit borne when not abiding in Christ must be fruit of the flesh and not of the Spirit. As wounds when healed often leave a scar, so the sin of neglected communion may be forgiven and yet the effect remain permanently.
J. Hudson Taylor, Union and Communion. Dimension Books, Bethany Fellowship, 25