[Manna - July 23]
If any provide not for his own,...he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8
"THE faith" includes thoughts of love, sympathy,
interest and care for others, especially for them of
the household of faith....How it gives us an insight
into our Lord's sympathetic nature, to find Him thinking
in the interest of others at the very time when He
Himself was overwhelmed in trouble!
His own agony
did not hinder Him from thinking of His mother, and
making provision for her comfort....We note the
choice of John: it was doubtless because, first of all,
of his loving, tender disposition; secondly, his zeal
for the Lord and the Truth; and thirdly, his courage
in pressing near to be with his dying Master in His
closing hours, at the risk of his own life.
Let us note
these characteristics, as being those which the Lord
approves, that noting them we may cultivate them
in ourselves, and thus be granted special opportunities
for service by this same Master. Z.'99-127 R2474:6