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Save Myself by Saving Others, August 18
Being a God Neighbor
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them:
for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear
thee.
1 Timothy 4:16
I have read of a man who, journeying on a winter’s day through
deep drifts of snow, became benumbed by the cold, which was almost
imperceptibly freezing his vital powers. He was nearly chilled to death,
and was about to give up the struggle for life, when he heard the moans
of a fellow traveler who was also perishing with cold. His sympathy was
aroused, and he determined to rescue him. He chafed the ice-cold limbs
of the unfortunate man, and after considerable effort raised him to his
feet. As the sufferer could not stand, he bore him in sympathizing arms
through the very drifts he had thought he could never get through alone.
When he had carried his fellow traveler to a place of safety, the
truth flashed home to him that in saving his neighbor he had also saved
himself. His earnest efforts to help another had quickened the blood
that was freezing in his own veins and sent a healthy warmth to the
extremities of his body.
The lesson that in helping others we ourselves receive help must
be urged upon young believers continually, by precept and example,
that in their Christian experience they may gain the best results. Let
the desponding ones, those disposed to think that the way to eternal life
is trying and difficult, go to work to help others. Such efforts, united
with prayer for divine light, will cause their own hearts to throb with
the quickening influence of the grace of God, their own affections to
glow with more divine fervor. Their whole Christian life will be more
of a reality, more earnest, more prayerful.... The testimonies borne by
them in the Sabbath services will be filled with power. With joy they
will bear witness to the preciousness of the experience they have gained
in working for others.
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