[Biblemat] A) IS THE LOVE OF GOD IN YOU?

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Wednesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.
Here is an article from my files:

IS THE LOVE OF GOD IN YOU?

     "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for 
us: and we ought to lay down our lives for
the brethren.  But whoso hath this world's goods, and seeth
his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compas-
sion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" (1 Jno.
3:16,17).

     "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is
this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and
to keep himself unspotted from the the world." (Jas. 1:27).

     "If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one 
of you say to them, Depart in peace, be ye war-
med and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?" (Jas. 2:15,16).

     "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirs-
ty, and ye gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me
in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I
was in prison, and ye came unto me...Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have
done it unto me." (Matt. 25:35,36,40).

     According to the first passage used here, one measure of
God's love in us is our willingness to show that love to others
in the sharing of what we have.  All of these verses should
stimulate us to look beyond ourselves to those who stand in
need of  some of the things that we have and could give.  Let
us break through selfish walls of unconcern for others, wheth-
er they be the widow, the orphan, the aged saint, the ill and
financially depleted, or any others who could profit from some of the 
abundance which most of us enjoy.

     In recent years several factors have served to increase our unconcern 
for others in a material way: the tendency of
some to saddle churches with work and projects never meant
for them by the Lord, such as the work of general benevolen-
ce, the support of human institutions, etc.; the increasing role of 
government in relieving physical needs; the rising wage scale; and possibly even other 
factors.  The result of
these combined forces is that many of us have reached the
state of merciless unconcern and lack of interest, even as in-
dividual Christians.

     Let no one misuse these passages directed to individuals
to guide them in their work as children of God to teach that
the church as a collective body ought to be active in this gen-
eral field!  On the other hand, let not the rest of us shrink back into 
lethargy and laziness in this area.  To do so is to ex-
hibit the same lack of love and respect for the Will of God that causes many 
to move the church into the realm of recrea-
tion, business, and relieving the needs of all.  --- Bobby L.
Graham in Gospel Guide, Vol. 27, No. 9, Sept. 1995.   </HTML>
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