[Manna - July 23]
If any provide not for his own,...he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Timothy 5:8
"THE faith" includes thoughts of love, sympathy, interest and care for others, especially for them of the household of faith....How it gives us an insight into our Lord's sympathetic nature, to find Him thinking in the interest of others at the very time when He Himself was overwhelmed in trouble! His own agony did not hinder Him from thinking of His mother, and making provision for her comfort....We note the choice of John: it was doubtless because, first of all, of his loving, tender disposition; secondly, his zeal for the Lord and the Truth; and thirdly, his courage in pressing near to be with his dying Master in His closing hours, at the risk of his own life. Let us note these characteristics, as being those which the Lord approves, that noting them we may cultivate them in ourselves, and thus be granted special opportunities for service by this same Master. Z.'99-127 R2474:6