Chapter 21—The Poor in the Church
The Needy of the Household of Faith—Our love for God is to be
expressed in doing good to the needy and suffering of the household
of faith whose necessities come to our knowledge and require our care.
Every soul is under special obligation to God to notice His worthy
poor with particular compassion. Under no consideration are these to
be passed by.—
Testimonies for the Church 6:271
.
“As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
In a special sense Christ has laid upon His church the duty of caring
for the needy among its own members. He suffers His poor to be in
the borders of every church. They are always to be among us, and He
places upon the members of the church a personal responsibility to
care for them.
As the members of a true family care for one another, ministering
to the sick, supporting the weak, teaching the ignorant, training the
inexperienced, so is the “household of faith” to care for its needy and
helpless ones.—
The Ministry of Healing, 201
.
Two Classes to Care For—There are two classes of poor whom
we have always within our borders—those who ruin themselves by
their own independent course of action and continue in their trans-
gression, and those who for the truth’s sake have been brought into
straitened circumstances. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves,
and then toward both these classes we shall do the right thing under
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the guidance and counsel of sound wisdom.
There is no question in regard to the Lord’s poor. They are to be
helped in every case where it will be for their benefit. God wants His
people to reveal to a sinful world that He has not left them to perish.
Special pains should be taken to help those who for the truth’s sake
are cast out from their homes and are obliged to suffer. More and
more there will be need of large, open, generous hearts, those who will
deny self and will take hold of the cases of these very ones whom the
Lord loves. The poor among God’s people must not be left without
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