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The Pathway of Sacrifice, August 6
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9:23
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Christ declares that as He lived so we are to live.... His footsteps lead
along the pathway of sacrifice. As we pass through life there come to us
many opportunities for service. All around us there are open doors for
ministry. By the right use of the talent of speech we may do much for
the Master. Words are a power for good when they are weighted with
the tenderness and sympathy of Christ. Money, influence, tact, time, and
strength—all these are gifts entrusted to us to make us more helpful to
those around us and more of an honor to our Creator.
Many feel that it would be a privilege to visit the scenes of Christ’s
life on earth, to walk where He trod, to look upon the lake where He loved
to teach, and the valleys and hills where His eyes so often rested; but we
need not go to Palestine in order to walk in the steps of Jesus. We shall
find His footprints beside the sickbed, in the hovels of poverty, in the
crowded alleys of the great city, and in every place where there are human
hearts in need of consolation.
Just as we trace the pathway of a stream of water by the line of living
green it produces, so Christ could be seen in the deeds of mercy that
marked His path at every step. Wherever He went, health sprang up, and
happiness followed wherever He passed. The blind and deaf rejoiced in
His presence. The face of Christ was the first that many eyes had ever
looked upon; His words the first that had ever fallen upon their ears.... His
words to the ignorant opened to them a fountain of life. He dispensed His
blessings abundantly and continuously. They were the garnered treasures
of eternity, the Lord’s rich gift to man.
Millions upon millions of souls ready to perish, bound in chains of
ignorance and sin, have never so much as heard of Christ’s love for them.
Were our conditions and theirs reversed, what would we desire them to do
for us? All this, as far as lies in our power, we are under the most solemn
obligation to do for them. Christ’s rule of life, by which every one must
stand or fall in the judgment, is, “Whatsoever ye would that men should
do to you, do ye even so to them.”
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