| The Glory of the Common Life |
Chapter 6 |
Page 5 |
The day in which we do not grow a little less resentful, in which we do not become a little more patient, tolerant, and merciful toward others, a little more like Christ in love, in gentleness and kindness, is a lost day. “Ye shall be perfect,” that is the finished lesson that is the radiance of character to which we are coming. Every hour we should draw a little neared to it. Cherish the blessed vision. Never let it fade from your heart for a moment. Every temptation to be angry is an opportunity to learn to live a little better. Every wrong any one does to you gives you another chance to grow more forgiving, to learn more of meekness and long suffering, to get into our life a larger measure of the love that beareth all things, endureth all things, never faileth.
One says, “I never can learn this lesson – it is too hard. I never can love my enemy, one who hates me and treats me with insult. I never can cease to bear grudges. If this is what the lesson is, I cannot learn to live it.” Without divine help we never can learn it. The evil in our natural hearts we never can eradicate. We cannot change black into white.
That is just why Jesus came into the world to be our Saviour. If we could have changed our own hearts, there would have been no need for a divine helper to come. We cannot, without his help, change resentment to love in our own hearts. We cannot, without his grace, learn to love our enemies, to pray for them. We cannot learn to be kind to the unthankful and the evil, unless the Spirit of Christ be in us. Jesus said to the disciples. “Apart from me ye can do nothing.” It is not a mere human work we are set to do when we are bidden to be perfect. We cannot too clearly understand this, or too thoroughly remember it. But when we are willing, God will work with us. If we truly strive to be perfect in love, God will help us to reach the lofty aim.
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