Daily Devotional for October 6
Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of: the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save them. (Luke 9:55, 56)
SO with all of the Lord's disciples: their continual study should be to avoid that hypercritical disposition to sentence and to destroy other people while desiring mercy for themselves. The rule which the Lord establishes is that we must expect from Him mercy only in proportion as we shall exercise this grace toward others....The fault-finding disposition that is ready to accuse and condemn everybody, indicates a wrong condition of heart--one which all the Lord's people should be on guard against....Mercy, goodness, love, are the elements of character which He desires to see in the spiritual Israelites, and without which we cannot long continue to be His children. Z.'04-43 R3316:4, 6
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Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another. (Romans 12:10)
THE truth seems to take hold on the stronger characters rather than on the weaker ones. The former have in their flesh more of the firmness, grittiness, and combativeness than have many others, who are too pliable and “wishy-washy” to be acceptable to the Lord as members of the “little flock” of overcomers. Thus we see that the very quality which makes us acceptable to the Lord and which is one qualification of the overcoming position, is a serious disadvantage in some respects, when a number of these come together as a church. Even a diamond surrounded by mud would cut nothing, would scratch nothing; but place a dozen diamonds together, and the more you get rid of the mud element the more gritting, scouring, and cutting there is likely to be. So it is with the Lord's jewels--the more they come together, the more they get wakened up, the more opportunities there will be for friction, and the greater necessity there will be that all be thoroughly imbedded in and covered with the Holy Spirit, which, like oil, is smooth and unctuous and tends to prevent friction. `Z'12-99` R4995:5 (Hymn 23)
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