Fighting Principles; Loving Men by F. M. W.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 27, 1913

Fighting Principles; Loving Men

By F. M. W.

ONE of the most difficult things in Christian experience is to differ from our fellows and continue to love them as before. It was a new doctrine to many which Christ proclaimed when he said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Matt. 5: 44, 45.

This principle of love has always been manifested on the part of the great Father above. He sends his rain upon the just and upon the unjust. Men may blaspheme his name, do despite to his Holy Spirit, and persecute his children, but he loves them still. Christ in his earthly ministry exemplified this divine principle. His life was one of trying conflict from its beginning to its close. In his own home he was misunderstood and misjudged. Throughout his earthly ministry enemies dogged his footsteps, seeking by every means in their power to entrap him into some unguarded expression whereby they could bring his work into disrepute.

Christ opposed the wrong teachings of his day. He not only stood as a living witness of the great positive truths of divine grace, but his life and his words were a continual rebuke to evil-doers. He exposed the hypocrisy of the ruling classes in the Jewish church; he rebuked the prevailing iniquity abounding on every side; he corrected faults in his kindred disciples; he labored for impetuous Peter; he sought with tender earnestness to hold back the one who betrayed him from acting this fearful part; but in all his contention he distinguished between men and principles. He reproved the sin, but loved the sinner.

This is the spirit which should actuate the followers of the Lord Jesus. There are arrayed against the church of God to-day, as in every age, unreasonable men. By their teaching and course the truth of God is changed into a lie. We have literally reached the time when truth is fallen in the street. The purpose of this movement is to sound a rallying cry. It is to lift up a standard around which shall be gathered the outcasts of Israel, those from every nation and people who fear God and love his Word above the opinions of men. But while we stand for the right courageously and fearlessly, let us do so humbly and meekly. It is only as divine love enters into our hearts and burns into our souls that we shall be able to love those who radically differ from us, those who are fighting that which we know to be the vital truth of God.

We can not save men until we love men. We can not bring our enemies to God until the same love that actuated Christ in his relationship to his enemies fills our hearts. Some of us may have personal enemies. We may feel at times that those who have been our closest friends have turned against us. Alienations of this character make the deepest wounds. We expect rebuffs from those who are opposed to us, who are out-and-out adversaries; but when rebuffs come from those who have been our close friends, when bitter, stinging words are uttered by those with whom we have taken sweet counsel, O, these cause wounds that are hardest to heal! And yet it is possible for divine grace so to permeate the life that we shall be able to love even these enemies. Their course will cause sorrow, but need not produce bitterness; and even though they may turn against us, if our hearts are filled with heavenly love we shall not turn against them.

In dealing with what might be termed personal enemies, as far as possible every misunderstanding should be cleared away. Possibly something in our words or conduct has caused a misapprehension, and if this were explained it might enable them to see things from an entirely different viewpoint. Perhaps we ourselves have done wrong and given occasion for hard feelings. This wrong should be humbly confessed. And after we have done all on our part, it is our privilege to take the matter to God and to pray faithfully and earnestly that he will turn the hearts of our enemies, even as he turns the rivers of water; that he will change the conceptions; that he will heal the wounds. Earnest, persevering prayer of this character, with a kindly, receptive attitude on our part, will seldom fail to bring the desired results.

Surely in the church of God all bitterness, enmity, and animosity should be banished from every heart. Let us love as brethren, being pitiful and charitable. It is enough that we have opposed to us the unbelieving elements of the world. Surely in the common danger which threatens us and in the cherishing of the great hope which unites our hearts, the members of the church of Christ should work together in love and harmony. In the wear and tear of human experience, when with overwrought nerves and under great pressure of circumstances we are driven on from day to day, little differences are prone to appeal to our abnormal natures as questions of great moment. But how trivial do questions of personal interest and difference appear in the light of eternity! When, perchance, we look at the whitened face of a brother or sister who is about to be laid to rest, how childish and insignificant appear the little differences of feeling engendered in life's conflict!

And what account shall we be able to render for cherishing such feelings and permitting such principles to control our lives, when we are summoned before the great tribunal and our lives are placed in contrast with the life of him who was hated as no other man was ever hated,—who was maligned, criticized, and finally crucified to satisfy the implacable hatred of his adversaries; and yet as he hung upon the cruel cross, he could say, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do; who came to his own, and although rejected by them, yet he gave his life a glad sacrifice for their salvation. As we view Calvary, we shall see things as they will appear in the light of eternity. We need to cherish toward one another a generous spirit. We should aim to grow into great-hearted, noble-natured, broad-minded Christians. Standing for the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, opposing evil for the vindication of right, let us learn to love men and to labor for them in the spirit of the Master.

F. M. W.