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Love Friend and Foe Alike, July 3
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Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him
that fell among thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on
him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
Luke 10:36, 37
Christ came to break down every wall of partition. He came to show
that His gift of mercy and love is as unconfined as the air, the light, or the
showers of rain that refresh the earth.... He made no difference between
neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies....
He passed by no human being as worthless.... In whatever company
He found Himself, He presented a lesson appropriate to the time and
the circumstances. Every neglect or insult shown by men to their fellow
men only made Him more conscious of their need of His divine-human
sympathy. He sought to inspire with hope the roughest and most un-
promising, setting before them the assurance that they might become
blameless and harmless, attaining such a character as would make them
manifest as the children of God.
Often He met those who had drifted under Satan’s control and who
had no power to break from his snare. To such a one, discouraged, sick,
tempted, fallen, Jesus would speak words of tenderest pity, words that
were needed and could be understood. Others He met who were fighting
a hand-to-hand battle with the adversary of souls. These He encouraged
to persevere, assuring them that they would win....
At the table of the publicans He sat as an honored guest, by His
sympathy and social kindliness showing that He recognized the dignity
of humanity; and men longed to become worthy of His confidence....
Though He was a Jew, Jesus mingled freely with the Samaritans....
He slept with them under their roofs, ate with them at their tables—
partaking of the food prepared and served by their hands—taught in their
streets and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. And
while He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His
divine grace brought to them the salvation which the Jews rejected.
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