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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
to condemn. Christ dwelling in the soul is a spring that never runs dry.
Where He abides, there will be an overflowing of beneficence.
To the appeal of the erring, the tempted, the wretched victims of
want and sin, the Christian does not ask, Are they worthy? but, How
can I benefit them? In the most wretched, the most debased, he sees
souls whom Christ died to save and for whom God has given to His
children the ministry of reconciliation.
The merciful are those who manifest compassion to the poor, the
suffering, and the oppressed. Job declares, “I delivered the poor that
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cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The
blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused
the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed
me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind,
and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause
which I knew not I searched out.”
Job 29:12-16
.
There are many to whom life is a painful struggle; they feel their
deficiencies and are miserable and unbelieving; they think they have
nothing for which to be grateful. Kind words, looks of sympathy,
expressions of appreciation, would be to many a struggling and lonely
one as the cup of cold water to a thirsty soul. A word of sympathy, an
act of kindness, would lift burdens that rest heavily upon weary shoul-
ders. And every word or deed of unselfish kindness is an expression
of the love of Christ for lost humanity.
The merciful “shall obtain mercy.” “The soul of blessing shall be
made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
Proverbs
11:25
, margin. There is sweet peace for the compassionate spirit, a
blessed satisfaction in the life of self-forgetful service for the good
of others. The Holy Spirit that abides in the soul and is manifest in
the life will soften hard hearts and awaken sympathy and tenderness.
You will reap that which you sow. “Blessed is he that considereth
the poor.... The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he
shall be blessed upon the earth: and Thou wilt not deliver him unto
the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed
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of languishing: Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.”
Psalm
41:1-3
.
He who has given his life to God in ministry to His children is
linked with Him who has all the resources of the universe at His
command. His life is bound up by the golden chain of the immutable