Who Is the Greatest?
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these things, we ourselves can receive only harm; for it is by beholding
that we become changed. While we seek to correct the errors of a
brother, the Spirit of Christ will lead us to shield him, as far as possible,
from the criticism of even his own brethren, and how much more from
the censure of the unbelieving world. We ourselves are erring, and
need Christ’s pity and forgiveness, and just as we wish Him to deal
with us, He bids us deal with one another.
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“Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” You are
acting as the ambassadors of heaven, and the issues of your work are
for eternity.
But we are not to bear this great responsibility alone. Wherever
His word is obeyed with a sincere heart, there Christ abides. Not only
is He present in the assemblies of the church, but wherever disciples,
however few, meet in His name, there also He will be. And He says,
“If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall
ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven.”
Jesus says, “My Father which is in heaven,” as reminding His
disciples that while by His humanity He is linked with them, a sharer
in their trials, and sympathizing with them in their sufferings, by His
divinity He is connected with the throne of the Infinite. Wonderful
assurance! The heavenly intelligences unite with men in sympathy
and labor for the saving of that which was lost. And all the power of
heaven is brought to combine with human ability in drawing souls to
Christ.
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