Beatitudes
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hearts are warmed by our unselfish interest and love. The sincere
believers diffuse vital energy, which is penetrating and imparts new
moral power to the souls for whom they labor. It is not the power
of the man himself, but the power of the Holy Spirit that does the
transforming work.
Jesus added the solemn warning: “If the salt have lost his savor,
wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to
be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”
As they listened to the words of Christ, the people could see the
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white salt glistening in the pathways where it had been cast out because
it had lost its savor and was therefore useless. It well represented the
condition of the Pharisees and the effect of their religion upon society.
It represents the life of every soul from whom the power of the grace of
God has departed and who has become cold and Christless. Whatever
may be his profession, such a one is looked upon by men and angels
as insipid and disagreeable. It is to such that Christ says: “I would
thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither
cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth.”
Revelation 3:15, 16
.
Without a living faith in Christ as a personal Saviour it is impossible
to make our influence felt in a skeptical world. We cannot give to others
that which we do not ourselves possess. It is in proportion to our own
devotion and consecration to Christ that we exert an influence for the
blessing and uplifting of mankind. If there is no actual service, no
genuine love, no reality of experience, there is no power to help, no
connection with heaven, no savor of Christ in the life. Unless the Holy
Spirit can use us as agents through whom to communicate to the world
the truth as it is in Jesus, we are as salt that has lost its savor and is
entirely worthless. By our lack of the grace of Christ we testify to
the world that the truth which we claim to believe has no sanctifying
power; and thus, so far as our influence goes, we make of no effect
the word of God. “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all
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knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing. And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me
nothing.”
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
, A.R.V.