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The Test

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 31, 1910

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 87, No. 13.

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The Test

By G. B. Thompson

G. B. THOMPSON
“And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also.” 1 John 4:21.
Here is a gage by which we can test our love for God. In an engine-room there may be several boilers. It is impossible to look into these great boilers and see how much water each contains. But running up the side of each there is found a little glass tube which serves as a gage. The height of the water in the tube determines how much there is in the boiler.
Do you love God? How are you to tell, you say? Why, look at the gage. You may have been testing your love by the wrong gage. Perhaps you have looked at the number of missionary visits you have made, the size of your gifts to missions, the amount of tithe paid, your faithfulness in attending prayer-meeting, or your faithfulness in practising health reform, and thinking your faithfulness in these things showed how much you love God. These are all good, and necessary, but they are not the test of love. We might do all these things, and even more. We could give all our goods to feed the poor, and our body to the burning flame, and yet not come up to the test. Look at the right gage. Your love for your brother is the measure of your love for God.
How does the gage stand, brother? It is well to examine ourselves occasionally to see if we are really in the faith. Do we love the brethren, not a few of them, but all of them? Says the apostle John again, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” 1 John 3:14.
As we look into our hearts by the aid of the Holy Spirit, what do we find? Do we find some variance, emulation, strife, jealousy, envy, grudging, criticism, suspicion, spiteful feelings, antipathy, aversion, malice, rancor, resentment, revenge, animosity, or something of the kind? These are all members of a family. Where these exist, though in the remotest degree, the love for God in the gage is correspondingly decreased. Brother, how does the gage stand,—not less five, ten, or twenty years ago, but to-day?
Takoma Park, D. C.