"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
"Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were
oppressed by the Devil."—Acts 10:38
"Christ's great end," says Richard Baxter, "was to save men
from their sins; but He delighted to save them from their sorrows."
His heart bled for human misery. Benevolence brought Him from heaven;
benevolence followed His steps wherever He went on earth. The journeys of the
Divine Philanthropist were marked by tears of thankfulness, and breathings of
grateful love. The helpless, the blind, the lame, the desolate, rejoiced at
the sound of His footfall. Truly might it be said of Him, "When the ear heard
me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me" (Job
29:11). All suffering hearts were a magnet to Jesus. It was not more His
prerogative than His happiness to turn tears into smiles. One of the few
pleasures which on earth gladdened the spirit of the "Man of sorrows" was the
pleasure of doing good—soothing grief, and alleviating misery. Next to
the joy of the widow of Nain when her son was restored, was the joy in the
bosom of the Divine Restorer! He often went out of His way to be kind. A
journey was not grudged, even if one aching spirit were to be soothed
(Mark 5:1; John 4:4, 5). Nor were His kindnesses dispensed through the
intervention of others. They were all personal acts. His own hand healed. His
own voice spoke. His own footsteps lingered on the threshold of bereavement,
or at the precincts of the tomb. Ah! had the princes of this world known the
loving tenderness and unselfishness of that heart, "they would not have
crucified the Lord of Glory!"
Reader! do you know any thing of such active benevolence?
Have you never felt the luxury of doing good? Have you never felt, that
in making others happy, you make yourself so? that, by a great
law of your being, enunciated by the Divine Patron and Pattern of Benevolence,
"It is more blessed to give than to receive?" Has God enriched you with this
world's goods? Seek to view yourself as a consecrated medium for dispensing
them to others. Beware alike of miserly hoarding and selfish extravagance. How
sad the case of those whose lot God has made thus to abound with temporal
mercies, who have gone to the grave unconscious of diminishing one drop of
human misery, or making one of the world's myriad aching hearts happier! How
the example of Jesus rebukes the cold and calculating kindnesses—the
mite-like offerings of many even of His own people! "whose libation is not
like His, from the brim of an overflowing cup, but from the bottom—from the
dregs!"
You may have little to give. Your sphere and means may be
alike limited. But remember God can be as much glorified by the trifle saved
from the earnings of poverty, as by the splendid benefaction from the lap of
plenty. "The Lord loves a cheerful giver."
The nobler part of Christian benevolence is not vast
donations, or munificent pecuniary sacrifices. "He went about doing
good." The merciful visit—the friendly word—the look of sympathy—the cup of
cold water—the little unostentatious service—the giving without thought or
hope of recompense—the kindly "considering of the poor"—anticipating their
needs—considering their comforts—these are what God values and loves. They are
"loans" to Himself—tributary streams to "the river of His
pleasure;"—they will be acknowledged at last as such—"You did it unto Me."
"Arm yourselves likewise with the same mind."