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Human Needs and Divine Supply
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the church fold her hands now? Shall we sleep as is represented in
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the parable of the foolish virgins? Every precaution is to be taken
now; for haphazard work will result in spiritual declension, and that
day will overtake us as a thief. The mind needs to be strengthened
to look deep and discern the reasons of our faith. The soul-temple is
to be purified by the truth, for only the pure in heart will be able to
stand against the wiles of Satan.
Our Relation to the World
We are not to copy the world’s practices, and yet we are not to
stand aloof from the people of the world; for our light must shine
amid the moral darkness that covers the earth. There is a sad lack
in the church, of Christian love one for another. This love is easily
extinguished; and yet without it we cannot have Christian fellowship,
nor love for those for whom Christ died.
Our brethren need to take heed to the injunction: “But foolish
and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all
men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose
themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the
acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his
will.” We shall have to meet crooked elements in the world and in
the church. Men will come claiming to have great light; but those
who have experience in the cause of God will see that what they
present as light is great darkness. Men of this class will have to be
treated according to the specifications of the word of God. Those
who are in error may become excited in advocating their views, but
those who are walking in the light can afford to be calm, gentle with
the erring, “apt to teach,” making manifest the fact that they have
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asked and received wisdom of God. They will have no occasion to
move excitedly, but occasion to move wisely, patiently, “in meekness
instructing those that oppose themselves.”
The time has come when those who are rooted and grounded
in the truth may manifest their firmness and decision, may make
known the fact that they are unmoved by the sophistry, maxims, or
fables of the ignorant and wavering. Without foundation men will