The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 09, September, 1880 — John Shaqi
The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 09, September, 1880Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 34, No. 09, September, 1880
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
wish us to go. We must watch our tongues that they do not speak any
wrong words, and we must watch that in all that we think, in all that
we say, and in all that we do, we please Jesus. “The spirit indeed is
willing but the flesh is weak.” If we are true Christians, we desire
more than anything else to follow Jesus. We mean to love Him always, to
work for Him always, and to turn from everything that is wrong. But how
many times we do not do things we mean to do, and how many times we do
things that make us sorry: and we go to Jesus and we ask Him to forgive
us. Our spirit is willing. In our heart, our very soul, we love Jesus,
but the flesh is weak. The flesh is our sinful self, the old wicked
heart, anything in this life that makes us do wrong. Sometimes we want
to speak good words for Jesus. We would like to tell our brethren of
His love, but we are not wise; we do not know the right words to say.
“The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” That is, in
our own selves, without Jesus we are very weak, we cannot do anything
right. But He will give the Holy Spirit to help us, so we may be strong
in Him, though we are in our own selves, without His spirit, very weak.
He will help us be strong to do right, and wise to say the right word.
Lena Chung, our Sacramento helper, who has been in service about one
year, sends the following:
John xiii., 34. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one
another.”
What does this mean? Our Lord was on earth; His disciples had followed
Him three years. Jesus knew His hour was come that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father. The disciples had been with Him so
long; they might know how to love God and follow Christ, but when their
Light should go away then they would be troubled and offended because
of the world. Jesus knew they would receive persecution; be cast out of
the synagogues and despised and hated of men; so He gave them this new
commandment that they should love one another in this world.
I. We ought to love one another. It is our duty to obey this command.
Some may say: he may be a Christian, but he is not my countryman, not
near to me. I am a white man, he is black, or he is a yellow man, he
does not belong to my family or friends. I will not love him. It can be
no sin to hate him. Not so, my friends. It hath been said, “Thou shalt
love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.” But Christ tells us: “Love
your enemies and bless them which curse you.” If so, we must love all
who love God, and are trying to serve and please Him, whatever their
place in life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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