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Love the Impelling Motive, August 15
For the love of Christ constraineth us.
2 Corinthians 5:14
.
“But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of
these is love” (
1 Corinthians 13:13
). In the life of Christ this love found
perfect expression. He loved us in our sin and degradation. He reached
to the very depths of woe to uplift the erring sons and daughters of earth.
There was no wearying of His patience, no lessening of His zeal. The
waves of mercy, beaten back by proud, impenitent, unthankful hearts, ever
returned in a stronger tide of love.
He who is constrained by the love of Christ goes forth among his
fellow men to help the helpless and encourage the desponding, to point
sinners to God’s ideal for His children, and to lead them to Him who alone
can enable them to reach this ideal....
Never are we to be cold and unsympathetic, especially when dealing
with the poor. Courtesy, sympathy, and compassion are to be shown to
all. Partiality for the wealthy is displeasing to God. Jesus is slighted when
His needy children are slighted. They are not rich in this world’s goods,
but they are dear to His heart of love. God recognizes no distinction of
rank. With Him there is no caste. In His sight men are simply men, good
or bad. In the day of final reckoning, position, rank, or wealth will not
alter by a hairbreadth the case of any one. By the all-seeing God, men
will be judged by what they are in purity, in nobility, in love for Christ....
Christ declared that the gospel is to be preached to the poor. Never
does God’s truth put on an aspect of greater loveliness than when brought
to the needy and destitute. Then it is that the light of the gospel shines
forth in its most radiant clearness, lighting up the hut of the peasant and
the rude cottage of the laborer. Angels of God are there, and their presence
makes the crust of bread and the cup of water a banquet. Those who have
been neglected and abandoned by the world are raised to be sons and
daughters of the Most High. Lifted above any position that earth can give,
they sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. They may have no earthly
treasure, but they have found the pearl of great price.
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