| The Ministry of Comfort |
Chapter 15 |
Page 2 |
Love is the essential thing in preparing one for being a helper of others. It is not enough for the preacher to declare to all men that God loves them – the preacher must love them too if he would make them believe in the divine love for them. The true evangel is the love of God interpreted in a human life. No other will win men’s confidence and faith. We must show the tenderness of God in our tenderness. We must reveal the compassion of God in our compassion. God so love that He gave – we must so love as to give.
The only efficient preaching of the cross is when the cross is in the preacher’s life. The man must love men, and must love them enough to give himself for them; otherwise his preaching will have but little power. It was this that gave Jesus Christ such influence over men and drew the people to Him in such throngs. He told them of the love of God, but they also saw that love and realized its compassion in His own life. He loved, too. He wrought miracles and did many gracious things; but that which made all His ministry so welcome and so full of helpfulness was that He loved the people He helped or comforted. That is the meaning of the Incarnation – it was God interpreted in a human life, and since God is love, it was love that was thus revealed and interpreted. Just in the measure, therefore, that we love others, are we ready to help them in any true way. Nothing but love will do men good. Power has its ways of helping. Law may protect. Money will buy bread and build homes. But for the helpfulness which means the most in human lives, nothing but love prepares us. Even the most lavish and the most opportune gifts, if love be not in them, lack that which chiefly gives them their value. It is not the man whose service of others costs the most in money value who is the greatest benefactor, but the man who gives the most of human compassion, the most of himself, with his gifts.
“The man most man, with tenderest human hands,
Works best for man–as God in Nazareth.”
Page 2