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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
a reform, but you do not go about it in the right way. You must labor
for the erring with a heart subdued, softened by the Spirit of God, and
let the Lord work through you, the agent. Roll your burden on Jesus.
You feel that the Lord must take up the case where Satan is striving
for the mastery over some soul; but you are to do what you can in
humility and meekness, and put the tangled work, the complicated
matters, into the hands of God. Follow the directions in His word, and
leave the outcome of the matter to His wisdom. Having done all you
can to save your brother, cease worrying, and go calmly about other
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pressing duties. It is no longer your matter, but God’s.
Do not, through impatience, cut the knot of difficulty, making
matters hopeless. Let God untangle the snarled-up threads for you. He
is wise enough to manage the complications of our lives. He has skill
and tact. We cannot always see His plans; we must wait patiently their
unfolding and not mar and destroy them. He will reveal them to us
in His own good time. Seek for unity; cultivate love and conformity
to Christ in all things. He is the source of unity and strength; but you
have not sought for Christian unity that you might knit hearts together
in love.
There is work for you to do in the church and out of the church.
“Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” The fruit we
bear is the only test of the character of the tree before the world. This
is the proof of our discipleship. If our works are of such a character
that as branches of the living Vine we bear rich clusters of precious
fruit, then we wear before the world God’s own badge as His sons and
daughters. We are living epistles, known and read of all men.
Now, I fear that you will fail in doing the work you must do to
redeem the past and become living, fruit-bearing branches. If you do
as God would have you, His blessing will come into the church. You
have not yet been humble enough to make thorough work and meet
the mind of the Spirit of God. There has been self-justification, self-
pleasing, self-vindication, when there should have been humiliation,
contrition, and repentance. You should remove every stumbling block
and make “straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned
out of the way.” It is not too late for wrongs to be righted; but you must
not feel that you are whole and have no need of a physician, for you
need help. When you come to Jesus with a broken heart, He will help
and bless you, and you will go forth in the Master’s work with courage