| Week-Day Religion |
Chapter 18 |
Page 3 |
But the test of true Christian love is that it does not fail even in the closest relations, in the most trying frictions of actual life, in which men so often appear at their worst. Charity beareth all things and never faileth. When hitherto undisclosed and unsuspected faults or blemishes appear in one we have esteemed, we are not to love him the less. Disagreeable qualities may appear upon closer acquaintance which will break the charm that distance lent and sorely test the genuineness of our love. There may be faults or eccentricities which painfully mar the beauty of men’s characters, rendering them uncongenial. Their actions toward us may give us apparent cause for withholding from them that courtesy and kindness which it is our wont to manifest to all men.
And yet none of these things modify the law of love or abridge its application. In all our intercourse with them our treatment of them is to be in the spirit of the sweetest charity. No rudeness of theirs must provoke us to rudeness in return. No matter how distasteful to our spirits their habits or manners may be, we are to treat them with unvarying courtesy. Even wrongs and injustice on their part toward us are to be answered only by that love that beareth all things and is not easily provoked, by the soft answer that turneth away wrath, and by the meekness that when reviled revileth not again.
The law of love, however, is not to be tortured into applications never intended. We are not required to take all sorts of people into intimate companionship or sacred friendship. There are many from whom we are commanded to separate ourselves. Even among the good our hearts are permitted to have choice of their affinities. Yet we are to cherish love toward all. In the face of the most repulsive qualities, even under the deepest wrongs, we are still to maintain and exhibit love in all its tenderness, patience, thoughtfulness, compassion and helpfulness – not the love which calls evil good, but the love that desires for others the blessings which we seek for ourselves.
To help in bearing with disagreeable people or those with unamiable qualities, there is nothing better than a sincere wish to do them good. There is a better side to every marred or distorted character. Hidden away under the blemishes are the germs and possibilities of a noble and beautiful life. Christ sees under the most faulty exterior that which by his grace he can exalt into heavenly sainthood. We should look even upon the worst men in the same way, and hold it to be our errand to them to help to bring out in them the possible beauty. There is a key somewhere to unlock any and every heart, and a hand that can bring betterment to every life. If we meet men and women, no matter how distorted their character, with a sincere desire to help and to bless them, we shall find it an easy task to bear with them and treat them lovingly.
Page 3
<< Prior Page 1 2 3 4 Next Page >>