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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
have been. Any neglect of duty to the needy and to the afflicted is a
neglect of duty to Christ in the person of His saints.
When the cases of all come in review before God, the question,
What did they profess? will not be asked, but, What have they done?
Have they been doers of the word? Have they lived for themselves, or
have they been exercised in works of benevolence, in deeds of kindness
and love, preferring others before themselves, and denying themselves
that they might bless others? If the record shows that this has been
their life, that their characters have been marked with tenderness,
self-denial, and benevolence, they will receive the blessed assurance
and benediction from Christ: “Well done” “Come, ye blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world.” Christ has been grieved and wounded by your marked
selfish love and your indifference to the woes and needs of others.
Many times our efforts for others may be disregarded and appar-
ently lost. But this should be no excuse for us to become weary in
well-doing. How often has Jesus come to find fruit upon the plants
of His care and found nothing but leaves! We may be disappointed
as to the result of our best efforts, but this should not lead us to be
indifferent to others’ woes and to do nothing. “Curse ye Meroz, said
the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because
they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against
the mighty.” How often is Christ disappointed in those who profess
to be His children! He has given them unmistakable evidences of
His love. He became poor, that through His poverty we might be
made rich. He died for us, that we might not perish, but have eternal
life. What if Christ had refused to bear our iniquity because He was
rejected by many and because so few appreciated His love and the in-
finite blessings He came to bring them? We need to encourage patient,
painstaking efforts. Courage is now wanted, not lazy despondency and
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fretful murmuring. We are in this world to do work for the Master and
not to study our inclination and pleasure, to serve and glorify ourselves.
Why, then, should we be inactive and discouraged because we do not
see the immediate results we desire?
Our work is to toil in the vineyard of the Lord, not merely for
ourselves, but for the good of others. Our influence is a blessing or
a curse to others. We are here to form perfect characters for heaven.
We have something to do besides repining and murmuring at God’s