| The Joy of Service |
Chapter 9 |
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The story is old, but the lesson is always timely. Every good cause is the cause of God. Christ’s kingdom comes not only in the personal sanctification of His followers, as they yield heart and life to His sway; it comes also in every struggle between right and wrong, between purity and corruption, in every movement for reform, in every holy sentiment.
The battle is going on forever in this world; and the trumpet is evermore sounding, calling men to the help of the Lord against the mighty. It is not enough no to be against the right and the good; God wants us to come to His help in every contest. Not to act for God is to act against Him. “He that is not with Me,” said the Master, “is against Me.”
Many of the gravest and most serious sins of men are sins of not doing. No wickedness is charged against Meroz. The people were cursed because they did nothing. It was a sin of omission. There are other illustrations. The priest and the Levite did not do any injury to the wounded man. They did not rob him, did not smite him, and did not say abusive or unkind words to him. Yet every one who reads the story feels at once that they did this man grievous wrong, sinned most sorely against him. They did it by not rendering to him loves’ offices, by passing him by, and leaving him unhelped in his bitter need. They came not to the help of the Lord in this sufferer’s behalf.
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