Have You Passed From Death to Life? September 22

We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. 1 John 3:14.TDG 274.1

I have been thinking how little we appreciate the decided declaration of the Word of God to us in regard to our relation with each other. There is that selfishness in the human heart that centers our thoughts upon ourselves; and even [in] those who seem to have a connection with God, we are pained sometimes to see how much of their thoughts are centered upon themselves, not seeing nor sensing the needs of others. We are connected together as in the great web of humanity, and in all our associations with one another we should seek to have the mind of Christ. To close the eyes to the needy and perishing, to leave sinners unwarned, and by indifference and selfishness tempt them to say, “No man careth for my soul,” is to dishonor God and bring reproach upon the cause of God. Our work is to build up one another in the most holy faith.TDG 274.2

If there is not that perfect harmony existing between us, we should not feel that we ourselves are not at all to blame in the matter. If another's thoughts and feelings are not in the same channel as our own, we should not feel that they are all wrong and we are right. We want to constantly keep the mind at the right point, to answer the prayer of Christ in John 17:21-23. We want to know what is the yoke Christ bids us take and the burdens we are to carry at this time, and constantly seek in kindness and love to show our brother that we have an interest in him, and bring love into our actions day by day. This is the gold tried in the fire—faith and love. If we see one in error on any point we should not pass along and say nothing, but we must try to bring him out from darkness into light. We must guard each other's interests as we do our own. We do not value the soul as we should. We ought to be united in one great brotherhood and be in that place where we can bear with the faults of one another with all longsuffering and meekness, and seek to bear one another's burdens. (See Ephesians 5:1, 2.)TDG 274.3

Well, you say this is the work of the minister. But it is also the work of each of us.—Manuscript 13, September 22, 1886, “The Christian Brotherhood.”TDG 274.4