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One to a Hundred, June 21
Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto
him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times
seven.
Matthew 18:21, 22
.
There is a great work before us. There are men and women straying
from the fold of Christ, and as they become cold and indifferent, and lose
all disposition to return, they will not run after you. You must take them
where they are.... When you find a wandering sheep, call him to the fold;
and leave him not until you see him safely enfolded there. ... Go out for
the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
If there is any point on which you have committed one wrong, although
he may have committed one hundred, take that which you have done out
of the way and open the way for him to come back again. Perhaps that
was the very thing that was keeping a soul away. In your humility, confess
your one wrong, and perhaps it may touch him and lead him with weeping
to confess his hundred wrongs, and to take them out of the way. Thus a
soul for whom Christ died will be saved....
You may say, I have tried to save this one and that one, and they have
only wounded me, and I am not going to try to help them any more. But
do not become discouraged if they do not
at once
return to the fold. Reach
out still for your fellow mortals around you. You shall reap if you faint
not.
Press together. Do not make little wedges of slight differences of
opinion, and drive them in to separate heart from heart, but see how you
can love one another even as Christ has loved you. See how you can
forgive those who trespass against you, even as you want your Father
in heaven to forgive your trespasses. Then you can be definite in your
requests; you can be bold in Christ; for Christ presents your requests to
God with the heavenly credentials which are His own righteousness, and
you can believe that Christ does hear, believe that He does bless, and say,
“I am His, and He is mine.”
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