Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In today’s world, we greet each other with secular sayings. We are truly afraid of “offending” the world. But we are being watched by millions of beings from other worlds, worlds who have never fallen, to see if we love the One who gave His life for us. Our angels are writing down everything we say and do. In the judgment, what will your account reveal?
In the days of the early Christians, if you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were expected to witness for Him, sacrifice for Him and lay down your life for Him. For most Christians today, going to church is all that is expected of you.
The distinction between church people and the people of the world is nothing. Paul realized that the church people (Jews going to the temple and synagogue) of his day were no different from the world of pagans. True Christians actually live “by the grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
2 Timothy 2:1 to 2 Timothy 2:26
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, . . .
We drink “power drinks” to be strengthened, we eat vegan to live long, and we visit psychologists to strengthen our weak and sinful minds. Few understand the strength they may receive through the “grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
The problem, as I have discovered, is our understanding of what God is willing to do for us. God does not provide us with power to do the work IN ADVANCE. He provides the power AS WE ARE ADVANCING in His work. If we stop advancing, His power stops working for us. But if we keep advancing, asking for His strength and power, He gives it.
That is a hard concept to put into practice. Before we buy a car we want to know if we have the funds available to pay for it. Before we buy a house we want to make sure we have the financing available to buy it. The same with Christ. But what we don’t understand is the fact that the “funds” are already available. The “financing” is already available. All we have to do is get up and step out in faith and God will provide as needed. Of course, we must be advancing in the right direction.
I have been experiencing this concept to a fuller extent through the medical condition I have been going through. I’m lying in a hospital bed paralyzed from the neck down. What do I hear? “Get up!” So, I have been working at getting up and walking, even though I’m not supposed to be. My Surgeon wrote, “miraculous recovery” in her report. But as I have been putting forth the effort, God has been providing the power. Easy? No! Difficult? Yes! Pain? Excruciating! But Jesus went through it day by day as He lived among men. If He can do it, I can do it in His power. He relied on His Father’s power, I rely on the Power Jesus provides. “Grace that is in Christ Jesus”.
. . . and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Strange to say, but the teachings of Paul are not being taught today. Even Peter recognized the phenomena of people breaking Paul’s teachings up and distorting them. “There are some things in them (letters of Paul) that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” 2 Peter 3:16.
When you take all of Paul’s writings and boil them down to their common denominator, here is what he taught:
1) Keeping God’s Commands is what counts. 1 Corinthians. 7:19
2) So then, the law is holy, and the Commandment is holy, righteous and good. Romans 7:12
3) Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:31
3) That we may present every man perfect in Christ. Colossians 1:28
As you can see, those teachings of Paul are not taught in the churches today. Why? Because the word “law” and “perfect” are offensive to sinful people. Therefore, when Paul is talking about doing away with church “law” with all its rituals, rites, services, feast days, traditions and holy days, they add in the moral law, the Ten Commandments, in order to do away with them. But how they love their church laws.
But we as Christians are to teach the teachings of Paul in their purity and fullness. We must understand Paul, and the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation, in order to teach the Bible in truth, and not according to man’s wisdom and understanding.
Paul took people back to the Old Testament. Paul quoted from the Old Testament. His concepts and thoughts were from the Old Testament. Paul also took people back to Jesus. He quoted from Jesus. Paul told everyone to go back to Scripture (Old Testament). “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16. That is how we become good soldiers for Christ. Are you building on the foundation of the Old Testament and Jesus as Paul did?
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
No, not really! We want to party, dance, raise our hands and sway to our feelings in church. But to humbly live in obedience to the commands of Jesus to stop sinning, be perfect and to keep the Ten Commandments to get our eternal life, nope! Are you suffering as a good soldier for Jesus? Most Christians today don’t know what suffering is.
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
Oops! We love our civilian pursuits. We want to please the world. Since our worldly churches have enlisted us, our aim is to please them, not Jesus. Churches are easier to please without sacrifice.
An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
Paul would be very surprised to learn that in today’s world you don’t need rules. Everyone can do as they please. All who compete get a prize for “winning” at something. But then again, maybe he wouldn’t be. Since the 1950’s the churches have been teaching “saved by grace” instead of “work out your salvation” as Paul taught. Society simply adapted that “saved by grace” mentality, the lie from the churches, and made it their own. Now the world can steal, rob, murder and do anything they want without any consequences. It all starts in the church. As the heart thinks, so is the man, then the family and finally society and the world. We are seeing the results today in our cities and political parties from the “saved by grace” mentality.
It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
Not today, Paul. Now, with socialism, the hard-working farmer gets nothing so the lazy bum sitting on the couch playing video games can have it all. Government employees are stealing it from hard-working society.
Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
Not many today know how to “think it over”. Therefore, the Lord can’t give them understanding. The Left thinks men are women, and women are men. That a fetus is a throw-a-way object. That children are not God’s but societies and are meant to be trafficked, sold and mutilated.
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, . . .
Not many churches, pastors or denominations want to “remember Jesus Christ”. Especially as the “offspring of David”. Why? Well, if Jesus is the offspring of David, He would have to teach what the Spirit of God taught through David: obedience to the Ten Commandments. The same LORD that talked with David is the same Lord who gave His life for the world. He doesn’t change.
. . . for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!
And that is why Paul was “bound with chains as a criminal”. He taught the same Jesus who taught in the Old Testament. We who teach the same Jesus are also persecuted, hated and will be bound with chains.
Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
Are we enduring everything for the good of the elect? There are “elect” standing around you who have not yet had the gospel taught to them. Will you let them perish?
The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; . . .
Paul stated that He died daily. Do we? Or do we just “die” once at baptism and then rejoin the world in our church? We cannot be resurrected with Him if we do not die daily to the world with Him.
. . .if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; . . .
I think that if we were given the chance to see what the angels are recording about us, we would be reading, “Denied, denied, denied, denied and denied”. All day long, in word, look and action, most are denying Jesus. Few are enduring unto the death of pride, ego and the world for Jesus?
. . .if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
We may deny Jesus, but He will never deny Himself and His Law. He will never abolish it as He never abolished it when He walked on earth: He lived it unto death. He remains faithful. Are you?
Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.
I am not sure if there are any churches, denominations or pastors left who “remind them of these things”. Instead, whole congregations and households are being destroyed by churches, denominations and pastors who are arguing over words. All we are commanded to do by Jesus is to teach what He commanded: Stop sinning, be perfect and Keep the Ten Commandments to get eternal life. That’s it. Everything else will fall into place if we simply live in obedience.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
“Rightly handling the Word of Truth.” I do not know of any pastor, church or denomination that is doing that. They all have their own “spin” to the “Word of Truth”. It is all politics and money. If they taught the Word of Truth rightly, they would have very few followers and members. People don’t want truth, they want their church’s truth. Therefore, they run around trying to find a church, pastor or denomination that will teach them the “truth” they want to hear. “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” 2 Timothy 4:3.
But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, . . .
Most of what is propagated by religions, pastors, churches and denominations is “irreverent babble”. Most just love to hear themselves “babble”. For some satanic reason, they think that their “babble” is acceptable to God. It isn’t. But in today’s world you must “babble” and do it loudly and often in order to impress people. Jesus wasn’t interested in impressing anyone. He created everyone, therefore He didn’t need to impress them. He wanted to heal them of their “babble” and bring them to quiet submission at the feet of Truth.
. . .and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, . . .
I have never met Hymeanaeus and Philetus. I don’t know anything about them except that they talked too much “babble”. So much so, they “swerved from the truth” and their lies “spread like gangrene”. Why is it that gangrene spreads faster than truth? All I know is, you can substitute almost any pastor, church and denomination today in their place.
. . .who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some.
Most religions won’t say outright that the resurrection “has already happened” or is a fable, but in reality, that is exactly what they are saying. As far as the pastors, churches and denominations are concerned, Jesus is dead. They don’t believe in Jesus because they refuse to accept what He teaches. They love Easter, Christmas and Halloween because they are pagan days. So in reality, the pastors, churches and denominations are pagans. And yes, they are upsetting the saints who trusted in their pastors, churches and denominations. It is time to get out!
But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
Let them babble on. It won’t change “God’s firm foundation”. Souls will be lost forever, but that is the nature of sin. Only those who live as Jesus commands: perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping are being sealed in Jesus. You can’t depart from iniquity if you don’t know what iniquity is. So the devil has all the pastors, churches and denominations babbling over foolishness while people keep on in their iniquity. If you claim to be a Christian and believe in Jesus, then it is your duty to learn what Jesus commands is iniquity so you can depart from it. If not, you are lost.
Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
Yes, there are some for honor and some for dishonor, as Hymenaeus and Philetus were dishonorable. As Jesus said, there will be wheat and tares growing together, or, claiming to be saved, claiming to be Christian and believing in Jesus. But that won’t save them. Stop looking around for the dishonorable and make sure you are living the honorable, perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life.
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.
Therefore, get out of your church and cleans yourself from what is dishonorable and be set apart as holy and be a useful worker for the Master: “ready for every good work”. And just to be clear, going to church does not make one holy. To be holy is to be living the perfect, sinless and Commandment keeping life.
So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
The world today is full of “youthful passions”. If you have ever looked at the Facebook pages of the youth, it is all about themselves. It is all about “who I want to be”. Nothing about what God wants them to be. Many claim to be Christian, but they do not “call on the Lord from a pure heart”. Their hearts are full of pride, ego and selfishness. Few are pursuing “righteousness, faith, love and peace”. Just try expressing another point of view with them and watch their love, inclusion and peace go right out the window.
Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.
“Foolish, ignorant controversies”. There is an awful lot of that going on in our churches, in our denominations, among pastors and especially on the internet. Since righteousness is peace, peace does not produce “clicks” and therefore what most people want are “foolish, ignorant controversies” to get “clicks”. And yes, “they breed quarrels” to the destruction of souls.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
I’m guilty. I’m working on it. There has been a lot of hate and quarrelsome material coming at me. It is easy to let down the guard and lash back in kind. But I am learning, and God is helping me, to stop and look to Him first. When it comes, I must stop and look to Jesus and calm my spirit so I can respond, not as my human heart wants to respond, but with the spirit of Jesus: “patiently enduring evil”. And of course, “correcting his opponents with gentleness” is another trait I am working on. Very hard to do. Jesus has given us the example, let us follow so that . . .
God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, . . .
I must always keep in mind that the end result is not to win but to lead to repentance. That is how we win. So many of us want to “win” the battle and show how knowledgeable we are. But the knowledge we have comes from God, therefore, it isn’t ours to own but to share in love.
. . .and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
“Come to their senses”. In today’s world? not likely. There isn’t much “sense” left in people. The world is getting farther and farther away from God and His truth. It is all about “me and my truth” and nothing about humbly kneeling before God and His truth. The world is in chaos because the children have been taught they are not responsible for their actions. Selfishness reigns.
I pray that people will come to their senses “after being captured by Him to do His will”. Doing His will is what life is all about. In doing His will we develop His character. Without His character no one will enter Heaven.
Inmate Letters
Hello,
I am interested in receiving any free literature you offer to inmates. I am looking to grow my relationship with God. I love to read. Can’t wait to see what you can send to help me in my walk with God. Thank you so much and God bless you,
Emily, CA
Hello,
I’m writing you because another inmate told me about your ministry and Bible study. He also mentioned you could possibly help with pen-pals. I’m a Christian man in need of your services. I would like to enroll in any opportunities you are willing to offer.
Damon, VA
Hi,
Could you please send me a “Change Your Life Biblically”?
Joshua, FL
JCPM,
I have received your free Bible study offer. I am very interested in joining. I can’t wait to receive the packet and get started. Thank you for your time,
Robert, CA
Hello,
I am writing to ask for your Bible studies you offer. Please send me what you have to offer.
Jerry, CA
Dear Fellow Believer,
I recently saw one of your books, “Change Your Life Biblically”. For the short time I was able to review the loaned book, I truly found it spiritually moving. Please send me a copy of your book.
Adam, MS
Hi Brother,
I got your ministry info rom Jose. I always love to learn more. I am Jewish and I’ve been studying to follow Jesus Christ. Now I want to share Jesus to others. I would like to do your Bible study.
Jbar, AZ
Brother Ron,
I’ve learned so much already in the first 12 pages. I have learned that all the churches are brainwashing. The chapter on faith was good to me. It showed me that faith is more than just a belief. Your section on “Faith & God” helped me with that. Learning the different titles of “God” opened my eyes. Your book is teaching me so much already. I don’t want to put it down. But, I know if I read it all now, I won’t remember much of it or grasp it all. I was a “so-called-Christian” and acted like I read the Bible. But I was only reading the parts that interested me. I want to thank you. Your book opened my eyes tremendously.
Chad, IL
Dear Ron,
I received my answer sheets for CYLB but do not have my copy any more to answer them correctly. After reading it and filling out the questions in it, I passed it on so that someone else could read it. I am requesting another copy of CYLB. Thank you for putting Jesus Christ Prison Ministry together. I don’t know if this is the only ministry devoted to current and ex-inmates, but it is the only one I’ve heard of. People like me need to know God will always love them and want them to come to Him no matter what we’ve done. Thank you for reminding me that I can live perfectly now. Active change is all it takes.
Nicholas, IL
Hello and God bless you,
I am writing on behalf of the three men’s names as well as myself that are enclosed inside the envelope. I was referred by Sam and I really like your workbook. We were hoping to receive a newer version if available. We are faithful followers of Jesus Christ and we appreciate any reading material and Bible studies. We thank you all the way from Tennessee and we will be praying for your ministry.
David, TN
Dear Brother Ron,
Please accept these stamps as a donation to assist Jesus Christ Prison Ministry with its postage needs. I am looking forward to studying the truth and getting to know who Jesus really is as opposed to what I was misled to believe.
Jason, IL
Dear Brother Ron,
I received your utmost uplifting letter. I was happy to hear from you. You couldn’t have been more right when you stated “we just have to have patience”. Today, I had my first real experience with the “Saved by Grace” Sunday worshiper. This guy that is an inmate minister came by and I tried to share some flyers and teachings of the book with him. He just went off and told me that I should throw the book away! He also went on to tell me that no one needs the Ten Commandments because no human can keep them and were only given to let us know we are sinners and how we couldn’t be perfect. And this is someone who completed 4 years of Bible college! This was my first test. I can tell you, he did not like the truth. I just wanted to let you know that you are right. Most of the information that CYLB teaches goes against what the churches teach and what most Christians know and teach. Really sad.
Riccardo, TX
Testimony For God’s Children
Dear Family in Christ,
Selfishness is a hard critter to squash. I know! I work daily to throw out selfishness and put the Spirit of God on the throne of my heart. I belong to Jesus. This body, mind and soul belong to Him. I am just the servant and must use all that He has given me to help others. If this poor, sinful man has hurt others through my selfish behavior, please forgive me. Pray for me. Thank you!
Necessity of Harmony
The Spirit of God will not abide where there is disunion and contention among believers in the truth. Even if these feelings are unexpressed, they take possession of the heart, and drive out the peace and love that should characterize the Christian church. They are the result of selfishness in its fullest sense. This evil may take the form of inordinate self-esteem, or of an undue longing for the approbation of others, even if that approbation is obtained undeservedly. Self-exaltation must be renounced by those who profess to love God and keep His commandments, or they need not expect to be blessed by His divine favor.
The moral and religious influence at the Health Institute must be elevated in order to meet the approbation of heaven. The indulgence of selfishness will surely grieve the Spirit of God from the place. Physicians, superintendent, and helpers should work harmoniously in the spirit of Christ, each esteeming others better than himself. (Today, this selfishness has taken over the entire denomination all of its institutions. It is imperative that we get out and humble ourselves before God Almighty.)
The apostle Jude says: “Of some have compassion, making a difference.” This difference is not to be exercised in a spirit of favoritism. No countenance should be given to a spirit that implies: “If you favor me, I will favor you.” This is unsanctified, worldly policy, which displeases God. It is paying favors and admiration for the sake of gain. It is showing a partiality for certain ones, expecting to secure advantages through them. It is seeking their good will by indulgence, that we may be held in greater estimation than others fully as worthy as ourselves. It is a hard thing to see one’s own errors, but everyone should realize how cruel is the spirit of envy, rivalry, distrust, faultfinding, and dissension.
We call God our Father; we claim to be children of one family, and when there is a disposition to lessen the respect and influence of another to build up ourselves, we please the enemy and grieve Him whom we profess to follow. The tenderness and mercy that Jesus has revealed in His own precious life should be an example to us of the manner in which we should treat our fellow beings and especially those who are our brethren in Christ.
God is continually benefiting us, but we are too indifferent to His favors. We have been loved with an infinite tenderness, and yet many of us have little love for one another. We are too severe upon those we suppose to be in error, and are very sensitive to the least blame or question in regard to our own course.
Hints are thrown out and sharp criticisms of one another, but at the same time the very ones who throw out these hints and criticisms are blind to their own failings. Others can see their errors, but they cannot see their own mistakes. We are daily recipients of the bounties of heaven and should have loving gratitude springing up in our hearts to God, which should cause us to sympathize with our neighbors and make their interests our own. Thoughts and meditations upon the goodness of God to us would close the avenues of the soul to Satan’s suggestions.
God’s love for us is proved daily; yet we are thoughtless of His favors and indifferent to His entreaties. He seeks to impress us with His Spirit of tenderness, His love and forbearance; but we scarcely recognize the marks of His kindness and have little sense of the lesson of love He desires us to learn. Some, like Haman, forget all God’s favors, because Mordecai is before them and is not disgraced; because their hearts are filled with enmity and hatred rather than love, the spirit of our dear Redeemer, who gave His precious life for His enemies. We profess to have the same Father, to be bound for the same immortal home, to enjoy the same solemn faith, and to believe the same testing message; and yet many are at strife with one another like quarrelsome children. Some who are engaged in the same branch of the work are at variance with one another and therefore at variance with the Spirit of Christ.
The love of praise has corrupted many hearts. Those who have been connected with the Health Institute have at times manifested a spirit of finding fault with the plans laid, and Satan has given them a hold upon the minds of others there who have accepted these persons as blameless while innocent persons have been charged with wrong. It is a wicked pride that delights in the vanity of one’s own works, that boasts of one’s excellent qualities, seeking to make others seem inferior in order to exalt self, claiming more glory than the cold heart is willing to give to God. The disciples of Christ will heed the Master’s instruction. He has bidden us love one another even as He has loved us. Religion is founded upon love to God, which also leads us to love one another. It is full of gratitude, humility, long-suffering. It is self-sacrificing, forbearing, merciful, and forgiving. It sanctifies the whole life and extends its influence over others.
Those who love God cannot harbor hatred or envy. When the heavenly principle of eternal love fills the heart, it will flow out to others, not merely because favors are received of them, but because love is the principle of action and modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, subdues enmity, and elevates and ennobles the affections. This love is not contracted so as merely to include “me and mine,” but is as broad as the world and as high as heaven, and is in harmony with that of the angel workers. This love cherished in the soul sweetens the entire life and sheds a refining influence on all around. Possessing it, we cannot but be happy, let fortune smile or frown. If we love God with all the heart, we must love His children also. This love is the spirit of God. It is the heavenly adorning that gives true nobility and dignity to the soul and assimilates our lives to that of the Master. No matter how many good qualities we may have, however honorable and refined we may consider ourselves, if the soul is not baptized with the heavenly grace of love to God and one another, we are deficient in true goodness and unfit for heaven, where all is love and unity.
Some who have formerly loved God and lived in the daily enjoyment of His favor are now in continual unrest. They wander in darkness and despairing gloom because they are nourishing self. They are seeking so hard to favor themselves that all other considerations are swallowed up in this. God in His providence has willed that no one can secure happiness by living for himself alone. The joy of our Lord consisted in enduring toil and shame for others, that they might be benefited thereby. We are capable of being happy in following His example and living to bless our fellow men.
We are invited by our Lord to take His yoke and bear His burden. In doing this we may be happy. In bearing our own self-imposed yoke and carrying our own burdens, we find no rest; but in bearing the yoke of Christ there is rest to the soul. Those who want some great work to do for the Master can find it just where they are, in doing good and in being self-forgetful and self-sacrificing, remembering others and carrying sunshine wherever they go.
There is great need that the pitying tenderness of Christ should be manifested at all times and in all places—not that blind sympathy which would gloss over sin and allow God’s cause to be reproached by ill-doing, but that love which is a controlling principle of the life, which flows out naturally to others in good works, remembering that Christ has said: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
Those at the Health Institute are engaged in a great work. During the life of Christ the sick and afflicted were objects of His special care. When He sent out His disciples He commissioned them to heal the sick as well as to preach the gospel. When He sent forth the seventy He commanded them to heal the sick, and next to preach that the kingdom of God had come nigh unto them. Their physical health was to be first cared for, in order that the way might be prepared for their minds to be reached by those truths which the apostles were to preach.
The Saviour of the world devoted more time and labor to healing the afflicted of their maladies than to preaching. His last injunction to His apostles, His representatives upon the earth, was to lay hands on the sick that they might recover. When the Master shall come, He will commend those who have visited the sick and relieved the necessities of the afflicted.
We are slow to learn the mighty influence of trifles and their bearing upon the salvation of souls. At the Health Institute those who desire to be missionaries have a large field in which to work. God does not mean that any of us shall constitute a privileged few, who shall be looked upon with great deference while others are neglected. Jesus was the Majesty of heaven; yet He stooped to minister to the humblest, having no respect to persons or station.
Those who have their whole hearts in the work will find at the Health Institute enough to do for the Master in relieving the suffering ones placed under their care. Our Lord, after performing the most humiliating office for His disciples, recommended them to follow His example. This was to keep constantly before them the thought that they must not feel superior to the lowliest saint.
Those who profess our exalted faith, who are keeping God’s commandments and expecting the soon coming of our Lord, should be distinct and separate from the world around them, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Among the peculiarities which should distinguish God’s people from the world in these last days, is their humility and meekness. “Learn of Me,” says Christ, “for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Here is the repose which so many crave and in vain spend time and money to obtain. Instead of being ambitious to be equal to another in honor and position, or perhaps even higher, we should seek to be the humble, faithful servants of Christ. This spirit of self-aggrandizement made contention among the apostles even while Christ was with them. They disputed who should be greatest among them. Jesus sat down and, calling the twelve, said unto them: If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”
When the mother of two sons made a request that her sons should be especially favored, one sitting on the right hand and the other on the left in His kingdom, Jesus impressed upon them that the honor and glory of His kingdom was to be the reverse of the honor and glory of this world. Whoever would be great must be a humble minister unto others, and whoever would be chief must be a servant, even as the Son of God was a minister and servant unto the children of men.
Again, our Saviour taught His disciples not to be anxious for position and name. “Be not ye called Rabbi…. Neither be ye called masters…. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased.” Jesus cited the lawyer to the sacred law code given from Sinai: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.” He told him that if he did this he should enter into life.
“Thy neighbor as thyself.” The question arises: “Who is my neighbor?” His reply is the parable of the good Samaritan, which teaches us that any human being who needs our sympathy and our kind offices is our neighbor. The suffering and destitute of all classes are our neighbors, and when their wants are brought to our knowledge, it is our duty to relieve them as far as possible. A principle is brought out in this parable that it would be well for the followers of Christ to adopt. First meet the temporal necessities of the needy and relieve their physical wants and sufferings, and you will then find an open avenue to the heart, where you may plant the good seeds of virtue and religion.
In order to be happy, we must strive to attain to that character which Christ exhibited. One marked peculiarity of Christ was His self-denial and benevolence. He came not to seek His own. He went about doing good, and this was His meat and drink. We may, by following the example of the Saviour, be in holy communion with Him, and by daily seeking to imitate His character and follow His example, we shall be a blessing to the world and shall secure for ourselves contentment here and an eternal reward hereafter. 4T 221-227.