Evening star., 1914-05-23
Forgiveness and Faith.

Several of the sayings of this lesson
have been spoken at other times, for the
| Master. like most teachers, repeats and
! reafflrms His teachings under different
| circumstances. so that the message con
cerning forgiveness is expressed stronger
| in Matthew 1921, %. where Jesus gives a
practical application of that portion Of
| the matchless prayer. He taught His
| disciples. Forgive us our debts as We
forgive our debtors" to pray.
| Back of much Of the lack OF forgiveness
| among men is the spiritual pride that pro
| duces the cold. cynical. self-satisfed spirit
| that dominated the Pharisees in their
hostility toward their opponents. II
we had the spirit OF forgiveness in our
| hearts we would seek out those that
wronged US. show them their error ana
| freely forgive them II they showed the
slightest spirit Of repentance. II We ex-
pect God to forgive US for the way We
have wronged Him We must show the
spirit Of forgiveness. which is the g.
sence Of Christianity.
One Of the disciples saw their grea1
need when he asked for an increase OF
faith. for It takes trust IN the prsD-
ises Of God to act at all times a. Q
Christian. Faith is developed By ths
BY It's works Christ in His reply see
forth the two different and oonfSa1e1A
conceptions Of religion that dnd theey
! source of activity in faith and corr
mands: There is an implied rebuke Z
faith" and what follows ID an fndso.v
ton that by the exercise o6 fAaeA
they could have applied tho power ~
God and accomplished the fmDoso4e4A
had faith or they would mover novs
achieved success In their lines e -
deavor The man with v1s1on 70 -
man with faith So tho man that pae
q vision Of God Will have falth t1ae
small mustard seed Win peo1uee ~
suits, for any man doing GEES Wm -
invincible.
The other day our nation wsloenel
back the bodies Of the irnmo1eal Sen1
duty on Mexican soil. With solemn serv-
ice the President commended their sac
rifice in the limo Of duty. which. he
pointed out. 10 probably moro dincuit
to do amidst the eneerS OF men than un-
der fire from an enemy's gum.
The unprecedented honor given to the
heroes whose blood fell In an enort to
befriend a sister nation In Its struggles
response to the cali Of duty. Jesus.
sought to impress upon the band of His
disciples that He had called them into
service where they were to labor with
out the expectance Of being recognized
not trying to teach that any service per
formed by them would be unnoticed, but
rather to impress upon them that the
spirit that marked true service would be
seen. The timeserver lacks faith and
the spirit of seif-sacrifice and seif-deniai.
We have no claims upon God. He could
get along without US. In fact. We are
useless and Of no value except when We
are through the power Of faith linked
with divine life that enables us by His
power to achieve the impossible. Our
victories are due to God working in and
through u.s. Great Christian characters
are moved by the spirit Of the Lord to
do more than 10 required of them. Every
Christian ought to do out OF love that
which shows that he has mastered the
circumstances Of life so a. under all
circumstances to reveal to men the spirit
Of the Christ In our conduct and service
God win honor all that in the spirit Of
Christ seek to advance His power among
Man. -