“Who is My Neighbour?”
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His followers receive as a trust from God. Too often these are passed
by with neglect. They may be ragged, uncouth, and seemingly in every
way unattractive; yet they are God’s property. They have been bought
with a price, and they are as precious in His sight as we are. They are
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members of God’s great household, and Christians as His stewards are
responsible for them. “Their souls,” He says, “will I require at thine
hand.”
Sin is the greatest of all evils, and it is ours to pity and help the
sinner. But not all can be reached in the same way. There are many
who hide their soul hunger. These would be greatly helped by a tender
word or a kind remembrance. There are others who are in the greatest
need, yet they know it not. They do not realize the terrible destitution
of the soul. Multitudes are so sunken in sin that they have lost the
sense of eternal realities, lost the similitude of God, and they hardly
know whether they have souls to be saved or not. They have neither
faith in God nor confidence in man. Many of these can be reached
only through acts of disinterested kindness. Their physical wants must
first be cared for. They must be fed, cleansed, and decently clothed.
As they see the evidence of your unselfish love, it will be easier for
them to believe in the love of Christ.
There are many who err, and who feel their shame and their folly.
They look upon their mistakes and errors until they are driven almost
to desperation. These souls we are not to neglect. When one has to
swim against the stream, there is all the force of the current driving
him back. Let a helping hand then be held out to him as was the
Elder Brother’s hand to the sinking Peter. Speak to him hopeful words,
words that will establish confidence and awaken love.
Thy brother, sick in spirit, needs thee, as thou thyself hast needed a
brother’s love. He needs the experience of one who has been as weak
as he, one who can sympathize with him and help him. The knowledge
of our own weakness should help us to help another in his bitter need.
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Never should we pass by one suffering soul without seeking to impart
to him the comfort wherewith we are comforted of God.
It is fellowship with Christ, personal contact with a living Saviour,
that enables the mind and heart and soul to triumph over the lower
nature. Tell the wanderer of an almighty hand that will hold him up,
of an infinite humanity in Christ that pities him. It is not enough for
him to believe in law and force, things that have no pity, and never