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Deposits in the Bank of Heaven, August 21
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep
himself unspotted from the world.
James 1:27
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The tender sympathies of our Saviour were aroused for fallen and
suffering humanity. If you would be His followers, you must cultivate
compassion and sympathy.... The widow, the orphan, the sick, and the
dying will always need help. Here is an opportunity to proclaim the
gospel—to hold up Jesus, the hope and consolation of all men. When
the suffering body has been relieved, ... the heart is opened, and you
can pour in the heavenly balm.
A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown;
yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, the neighborhood, the
church, and even in “the regions beyond,” whose results will be as far-
reaching as eternity. It is because this work is neglected that so many
young disciples never advance beyond the mere alphabet of Christian
experience. The light which was glowing in their own hearts when Jesus
spoke to them, “Thy sins be forgiven thee,” they might have kept alive
by helping those in need. The restless energy that is so often a source of
danger to the young might be directed into channels through which it
would flow out in streams of blessing.
The hours so often spent in amusement that refreshes neither body
nor soul should be spent in ... seeking to help someone who is in need.
Every opportunity to help a brother in need, or to aid the cause of
God in the spread of the truth, is a pearl that you can send beforehand,
and deposit in the bank of heaven for safe-keeping.
Love, courtesy, self-sacrifice—these are never lost. When God’s
chosen ones are changed from mortality to immortality, their words and
deeds of goodness will be made manifest, and will be preserved through
the eternal ages.... Through the merits of Christ’s imputed righteousness,
the fragrance of such words and deeds is forever preserved.
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