“What must I do to save my soul? If I only knew what God wants me to do, oh, how willingly would I do it! O my God, teach me how to become perfect!”

These were the words that a certain holy hermit in the desert was continually saying, night and day. God, Who saw the great desire this man had of serving Him, was pleased to answer his prayer by sending an angel from Heaven to show him how one can truly serve God.

The angel said to him: “Follow me.”

The holy man rose up at once, and followed the angel.

The angel brought him first to a simple hut, the home of a poor man and his family. The angel stood before the door of the hut, and pointed to a little girl who was sweeping the dirt floor. She wore very poor clothes, but there was a pleasant smile on her face, and she was singing joyfully: “My dear Jesus, may I do all for the love of Thee!”

Then the angel led him into a great and beautiful church which was full of people, who were listening to a great preacher, speaking with much eloquence about the Word of God. So powerful were his words that the tears were flowing from the eyes of many of those who were listening to him.

When the sermon was ended, the preacher came down from the pulpit, and walked through the crowd that was in the church. He seemed to be pleased at the impression he had made upon the people. He looked as if he thought that he had done much good by his sermon.

The angel said to the hermit: “Which of these two, the girl in the hut or the great preacher in the church, do you think, has done most for God?”

The hermit immediately answered: “There can be no doubt about it; it was most certainly that great preacher.”

“You are wrong, my child,” said the angel; “it was the little girl in the hut.”

This eloquent preacher was more concerned about being esteemed and applauded by men, than giving glory to God. This poor man may have truly wanted to do good for souls. But he forgot that, without God’s grace, there is no good thing we can do. The eloquent preacher gave himself the credit for the results of his sermon, rather than praising God for inspiring his words, and giving grace to the people.

But the girl in the hut was doing all for the sake of Jesus Christ - without looking to be praised by the world, or proud of herself.