#465 Accepting the Gift and Passing it On
Our standard is benevolence:
a disposition of doing good regardless of what others do to us.
This loving desire to bless others is at the heart of Who You Are.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
O teach us to see the wounds and brokenness
behind the actions and words that can be so hurtful to us,
and to long for the healing of that heart.
“How is it with those who slight us? Has the new spirit, the new mind of Christ, gained sufficiency of foothold for us to say as Samuel did, ‘God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease to pray for you.’ [1 Samuel 12:23] Our Master’s words instruct us even upon this, and say, ‘Love your enemies,…pray for them which despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.’ (Matt. 5:44, 45) Oh, yes! Those whose hearts are loving to their enemies, and loving to the household of faith, and above all, loving to the Lord, these would indeed be exceedingly sensitive if their hearts got into any attitude in which they would not be seeking the welfare of others, and praying for them… In such hearts the love of God is shed abroad as represented by the holy anointing oil, the unction from the Holy One, which lubricates all of the sensibilities, smoothing not only the countenance, but also the tongue and the heart; for ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,’ and bitter water cannot come from a pure fountain.” Luke 6:45; James 3:11 R. 4201
Our standard is benevolence:
a disposition of doing good regardless of what others do to us.
This loving desire to bless others is at the heart of Who You Are.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6
O teach us to see the wounds and brokenness
behind the actions and words that can be so hurtful to us,
and to long for the healing of that heart.
“How is it with those who slight us? Has the new spirit, the new mind of Christ, gained sufficiency of foothold for us to say as Samuel did, ‘God forbid that I should sin against the Lord and cease to pray for you.’ [1 Samuel 12:23] Our Master’s words instruct us even upon this, and say, ‘Love your enemies,…pray for them which despitefully use you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.’ (Matt. 5:44, 45) Oh, yes! Those whose hearts are loving to their enemies, and loving to the household of faith, and above all, loving to the Lord, these would indeed be exceedingly sensitive if their hearts got into any attitude in which they would not be seeking the welfare of others, and praying for them… In such hearts the love of God is shed abroad as represented by the holy anointing oil, the unction from the Holy One, which lubricates all of the sensibilities, smoothing not only the countenance, but also the tongue and the heart; for ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,’ and bitter water cannot come from a pure fountain.” Luke 6:45; James 3:11 R. 4201
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