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Way of Self-Examination (cont'd)
by Bishop W. Reynold Storr
September 22, 2004
Lack of Brotherly Love
Jesus taught that those who truly love Him seek and obey His words:
(John 14:23) “If a man love me, he will keep my words…” And the apostle
John adds that those who love Jesus love His followers: (1John 5: 1-2)
“Everyone that loveth him that begot loveth him also that is begotten
of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love
God, and keep his commandments”. So both loves---love for Christ and
love for Christians---are shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit
who is given us. It is impossible for us to love Jesus without also
loving His followers.
But if we turn from the Lord to iniquity, our Christian wanes. (Matt.
24:12) “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall [grow]
cold” The caring spirit of Abel departs from us, the callousness of
Cain enters, and we abandon our responsibility to love and help our
fellow believers, reasoning in our hearts, (Gen.4:9) “Am I my brother’s
keeper?” If there is no recovery, this indifference soon degenerates
into enmity, and we find ourselves biting and devouring those whom Christ
has called us to love. This lack of brotherly love is a sign we have
lost touch with Him who first loved us and who commanded us to “love
one another” (John 13:34-35). After unbelief set in, the formerly faithful
servant of Christ’s parable began to” (Matt. 24:49) “smite his fellow
servants. His is an example we should not follow.
Bodily Pain
The Book of Proverbs teaches, (Prov. 11:17) “The merciful man doeth
good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh”.
This means that our attitudes toward others affect our souls and bodies.
A merciful out look brings God’s blessing upon our minds and health,
but an unmerciful heart brings stress and consequently pain, particularly
upon our bodies: “He that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.” In short,
God is saying cruelty inflicts pain on the cruel. Why? It is God’s judgement.
In Luke 6:36—38, Jesus commands all Christians, “Be ye…merciful,” and
then spells out four ways we may exercise the mercy God has placed within
our hearts:
*By not judging others
*By not condemning others
*By forgiving offenders
*By giving and sharing with others
If we who are saved by mercy refuse to have mercy, we offend the Lord
of mercy. And if we persist in our hardness of heart, He gives us a
sign of His displeasure. Surprisingly, that sign is torment.
Yet we really should not be surprised, because Jesus warned us of this.
In (Matthew 18:21—35) He taught that Christians must forgive and reconcile
with every offender who asks forgiveness. (In other scriptures He revealed
that we must also internally forgive [forsaking anger and vengeance]
offenders who do not ask forgiveness; (Mark 11:25—26). . He then revealed
that unforgiving Christians stir God’s wrath so greatly that He gives
them over to “tormentors” (Matt. 18:34), who inflict on them the cruelty
they wish upon their offenders. To torment is “to rack with pain, to
inflict mental or physical agony”. When considered with Proverbs 11:17,
we may conclude that when we have aches and pains in our fingers, legs,
joints and backs, without detectable physical causes, it may be because
some form of unmercifulness—unforgiveness, vengeance, hatred, condemnation
or stinginess—is resting in our hearts.
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