We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
Those who are strong in faith and blessed with influence, ability, and every advantage are bound to patiently carry, support, and lift up those who are weak in faith, burdened, tempted, and discouraged, instead of living to gratify and please themselves. Not pleasing self means refusing to seek one's own comfort, preference, and way or to stand on dignity and exact rules, but choosing the work that builds up the neighbor for his good. Christ is the pattern of this duty, for he did not seek his own ease and pleasure but emptied himself, clothed divinity with humanity, and bore reproach and death to seek and save the lost. The strong therefore restore one overtaken in fault in meekness with tender sympathy, patience, and compassion, never despising, accusing, or driving away the weak, and guarding the tongue from faultfinding, criticism, and retaliation. When this self-denying forbearance is practiced, God makes believers like-minded according to Christ Jesus, one as Christ is one with the Father, receiving one another and with one mind glorifying God in peace.
Strength and Weakness Defined
The strong are those who have faith and influence, with strength of mind and soul and body, and every advantage of education and refinement, character and Christian training, religious experience and position and talent creates a duty to serve those who have less rather than to seek personal pleasure. Strength in influence is to be used in loving and restorative help, not in accusation or pride or in conduct that discourages people and drives them away from truth. When a brother is overtaken in fault and disappoints, the strong must not cast him aside and refuse help, but must restore him in meekness while remembering their own danger of temptation, not in a proud, officious and masterly manner, and must especially help those struggling with self under discouraging circumstances.
The weak are those with weak faith and wavering steps, who are perplexed with doubt, burdened with infirmity, unable to grasp the unseen, tempted and afflicted, discouraged and despondent, and of little faith. They include those overtaken in fault and weighed down by guilt and wrongdoing and unrest and dissatisfaction, which lower and degrade humanity more than hardship or toil or poverty do. They include those who seem defective or helpless or who fail to meet the ideas of others, needy children, and poor and distressed workers.
To bear their infirmities is to patiently support and carry them and help build them up until the weak become strong, seeking the neighbor's good after the pattern of Christ who did not live to gratify himself. It is to use strength and influence patiently and lovingly in support rather than driving the weak away or discouraging them or wounding them, even when help requires personal sacrifice and care in relating. Faultfinding and criticism while claiming to do God's service violates this duty and exposes faultfinding itself as weakness and besetting sin, since reproaches aimed at the Lord's servants fall on Christ himself.
Not to please ourselves is not to live to gratify self or to seek own comfort and preference and satisfaction and way. It is not to insist on exact rules or to stand on dignity, nor to hold to self-esteem and self-importance, nor to let selfishness have controlling power. It is instead to adapt conduct and labor to people's differing needs for their good and spiritual growth, and to choose the work in which one can best serve God and do the will of the heavenly Father.
Christ the Selfless Pattern
Christ is the pattern of the verse because He did not please Himself or seek His own pleasure, ease, and comfort, but bore reproach. That bearing included taking reproaches directed at others upon Himself, and also bearing the reproaches directed against God. Therefore those who are strong are to bear patiently with the weaknesses of the weak instead of pleasing themselves, seeking a neighbor's good to build him up, putting self aside, keeping peace, and helping those who need help so they may grow spiritually. In shepherding work this means caring for the flock with tenderness, especially the tempted, afflicted, and discouraged, serving for their good and growth. Scripture was written to teach believers, so that through patience and the comfort it gives they may have hope and live in unity.
His self-denial went so far as emptying Himself of glory, clothing divinity with humanity in order to touch humanity and reveal God's love. He came not to live a life of pleasure but to seek and to save the lost, and God commended His love in that while men were still sinners Christ died for them. That complete self-surrender is the standard for guarding the lips from guile, holding correct principles whatever the cost, working the works of God, denying self-indulgence in spending and home adornment, turning over a new leaf, and laboring earnestly for those around whose souls are as precious as one's own, remembering that giving is more blessed than receiving. Those who thus labor together with God to win souls are joined by heavenly intelligences standing close beside everyone working earnestly, so that both laborer and those labored for glorify God.
Following Christ therefore requires self-denial and self-sacrifice rather than choosing one's own comfort. This may require giving up quiet, rest, and freedom from care, accepting difficult responsibilities, and risking reproach in order to help someone who is erring and carry the weaknesses and burdens of those who need help. Christ, not human standards, is the standard of perfect character, and following Him means copying His self-denial and self-sacrifice.
Contemplating His life, spirit, and love at all times and in all places, without letting business activities crowd that contemplation out, gives deeper knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. It teaches the lesson of meekness and lowliness of heart and reveals the disinterested love, pure benevolence, and unselfishness of His religion, loving in deed and in truth. So practiced, bearing the weak means lifting drooping hands and feeble knees and making straight paths so the lame is healed rather than turned aside.
Edification and Unity
Bearing the weak means not seeking one's own pleasure but seeking a neighbor's good to build him up spiritually, and this calls for self-denial and loving unity in service. It is pleasing one's neighbor for his good to edification, following Christ who did not please himself but bore reproaches directed at others. It seeks to lift drooping hands and feeble knees and to make straight paths, so that the lame is healed rather than turned aside. Helping one another in this way is how believers live in unity and peace.
What was written beforehand was written for learning, so that through patience and the comfort Scripture gives believers may have hope. That patience and comfort sustain hope and help believers live in unity, keep peace, and put self aside for the good and spiritual growth of others. They are to follow after things that make for peace and edifying speech and action.
When God's people practice such patient forbearance and self-denial, God grants them to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. In this way they become one as Christ is one with the Father, receive one another as Christ received them to the glory of God, and with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even joined to Christ in peace and unity. Believers are thus to live in unity so that together they glorify God.
Lack of unity and lack of love among members must be overcome, for selfishness and a fierce, self-centered spirit must be put aside for the sake of peace and unity. Letting displeasure produce dissension gives way to setting self aside, helping others, and living in peace and unity. Such disunity grieves angels and the Spirit of God, and the remedy is walking in love, overcoming selfishness, and caring for one another.
Restoring the Weak Tenderly
The strong must help those who have gone wrong rather than cutting them off or casting them aside when a brother is overtaken in fault and disappoints. Restoration is to be in the spirit of meekness, not in a proud, officious, masterly manner, with each restorer considering his own danger of being tempted, and so bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ. The erring are to be encouraged and strengthened with every aid possible, with energy, wisdom, and tender sympathy, so they can overcome temptation, regain spiritual health, and be ready for the Judgment. Faults are not to be exaggerated, and the erring are not to be treated with cruel severity or refused help.
Help is to be given with pity, courtesy, kindness, patience, tenderness, and compassion suited to each person's particular needs, especially for the tempted, afflicted, despondent, and those burdened by doubt, infirmity, sin, or weak faith. The strong come as a visible friend in Christ's stead, a connecting link to fasten trembling faith upon God, giving earnest interest to lift the tried brother above thinking of himself. Such blessed work is to be done in Christ's name with a loving, tender spirit, as Christ has pitied and helped us in weakness and sinfulness. Pride and selfishness must not withhold it, and errors are to be corrected without making sport of infirmity or weakness.
No believer is to be lightly esteemed, treated as unimportant, or regarded with contempt because of weak faith, wavering steps, or shortcomings, including ministers God has accepted whatever their background or former position. Strength, including advantages of education, character, refinement, Christian training, and religious experience, creates a duty of loving, restorative help, not accusation, pride, disparagement, cruelty, or severity. Conduct that discourages people or drives them away from the truth and farther from the Saviour violates the duty to bear patiently with the struggling. A person who seems great may be lowly in God's sight, while the self-important may be lightly esteemed.
Faultfinding and criticism while claiming to do God's service violates the duty to bear infirmities patiently instead of gratifying self and insisting on one's own way. Such faultfinding exposes weakness and besetting sin, for reproaches directed at the Lord's servants fall upon Christ himself. Instead each one is to give account of himself to God rather than judging one another, to seek a neighbor's good for building up after Christ who did not live to gratify himself, to put no stumbling block or occasion to fall in a brother's way, and to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, with none of self and all of Christ.
Bearing the weak requires guarding the tongue, speaking no provoking or contentious word, but speaking kindly, tenderly, and pleasantly to encourage, refresh, and build up faith. It forbids talking about the faults and sins of others and requires refusing to listen when another begins such criticism, turning a deaf ear to it, while reporting any good of another and rejoicing in truth rather than iniquity. Errors are corrected without making sport of infirmity, what is good in character is strengthened without blame, confidence is cultivated rather than suspicion, and brethren are drawn nigh to with respect, love, humility, and condescension rather than wisdom in one's own conceits or a murmuring, faultfinding spirit. When tempted to speak rashly or when harshly spoken to, not a word is to be uttered in retaliation, for silence is the greatest rebuke to a faultfinder or irritated temper; instead each one is to quarrel with self, confess personal sins, humble the heart before God, overcome hereditary and cultivated faults of character, and keep the eye fixed on Jesus, who does not find fault but lays open perils to deliver from them. This includes patient, practical help for one weakened by temptation, such as one struggling with intemperance, to break free, recover, and avoid repeating the same course.
God observes and blesses self-denial and self-sacrifice that makes a chance for a tried brother, lifts him above thinking of himself, and keeps him from sinking in temptation. By contrast, a quarrelsome, faultfinding disposition will never find entrance into the city of God.
Ministry and Daily Service
Ministers and shepherds fulfill the call of the strong to carry the weaknesses of the weak instead of seeking their own pleasure by attending to the needs of the flock with tender care, especially for those who are tempted, afflicted, and discouraged, serving for their good and growth. This requires accepting individual responsibility in service and putting aside self-esteem and self-importance to willingly carry burdens for others. It means adapting conduct and labor to people's differing and varied needs so as to help them, rather than insisting on exact rules or standing on dignity, with the aim of the neighbor's good and spiritual growth. The pattern is Christ's selfless ministry, for he did not please himself but bore reproach for others.
Ministry is not preaching alone but relieving the sick and suffering, helping the needy, and speaking words of comfort to the desponding and those of little faith. Those who are strong must carry the weaknesses of the weak until the weak become strong, including the sense of guilt weighing down souls near and far, for it is guilt, wrongdoing, unrest, and dissatisfaction, not hardship, toil, or poverty, that lowers and degrades humanity. Bearing the weak also includes showing Christ's tenderness and compassion and meeting the practical necessities of poor and needy workers, setting aside self-pleasing to accept God-given responsibility to help others. The verse includes patiently caring for helpless or needy children, encouraging and teaching them even when they err or tax patience, which may inconvenience the helper, as Jesus suffered and bore with sinful people to help them. It calls for helping unfortunate and distressed people, including those in one's own community, and exercising care to limit demands on people in hardship.
Those who are strong should not live merely to please themselves but should use their lives to benefit others and be a blessing to society, for amusements are not innocent or harmless if they leave people less able to perform their ordinary duties faithfully. This requires complete self-surrender, being strict with self, guarding the lips from guile, refusing to bring false principles into dealings with others, working the works of God and holding to right principles at any cost so souls are kept in the safe path. It means denying self-indulgence in spending and home adornment to help the cause of truth, using means economically, putting the word of God above pictures and ornaments, pleasing the neighbor for good to build him up, following after peace and edifying speech and action, letting light shine in appeals and warnings and by holy example to lead friends heavenward. The standard is Christ, who emptied himself of glory, clothed divinity with humanity to touch humanity and reveal God's love, and came to seek and save the lost instead of living a life of pleasure, even bearing the reproaches that fell on God, and what was written aforetime was written for learning to give patience and comfort and hope, so that God may grant believers to be like-minded according to Jesus Christ and with one mind and mouth glorify God the Father.
The strong are fitted to bear the infirmities of the weak and serve them unselfishly only when brain-power and talent of speech are sanctified. As God's stewards to whom capabilities are given for work in the Lord's work with its many branches, each man and woman must in humility of mind support the weak and work in holy Christian love for the good of the other instead of pleasing and glorifying self. Those in responsible positions must put aside selfishness and place workers where their ability can be used in other lines, such as canvassing, rather than keeping them to keep up appearances. Each person must labor earnestly for those around them, whose souls are just as precious in God's sight as their own, remembering that giving is more blessed than receiving. Those who thus labor together with God to win souls have heavenly intelligences standing close beside everyone earnestly working, so that both the laborer and those labored for glorify God, and when church and school help each other, with love and fellowship entering every line of work, hearts are knit together in love for Christ and for perishing souls and the fruit is seen in good words fitly spoken.
Those who are strong in faith and blessed with influence, ability, and every advantage are bound to patiently carry, support, and lift up those who are weak in faith, burdened, tempted, and discouraged, instead of living to gratify and please themselves. Not pleasing self means refusing to seek one's own comfort, preference, and way or to stand on dignity and exact rules, but choosing the work that builds up the neighbor for his good. Christ is the pattern of this duty, for he did not seek his own ease and pleasure but emptied himself, clothed divinity with humanity, and bore reproach and death to seek and save the lost. The strong therefore restore one overtaken in fault in meekness with tender sympathy, patience, and compassion, never despising, accusing, or driving away the weak, and guarding the tongue from faultfinding, criticism, and retaliation. When this self-denying forbearance is practiced, God makes believers like-minded according to Christ Jesus, one as Christ is one with the Father, receiving one another and with one mind glorifying God in peace.
Strength and Weakness Defined
The strong are those who have faith and influence, with strength of mind and soul and body, and every advantage of education and refinement, character and Christian training, religious experience and position and talent creates a duty to serve those who have less rather than to seek personal pleasure. Strength in influence is to be used in loving and restorative help, not in accusation or pride or in conduct that discourages people and drives them away from truth. When a brother is overtaken in fault and disappoints, the strong must not cast him aside and refuse help, but must restore him in meekness while remembering their own danger of temptation, not in a proud, officious and masterly manner, and must especially help those struggling with self under discouraging circumstances.
The weak are those with weak faith and wavering steps, who are perplexed with doubt, burdened with infirmity, unable to grasp the unseen, tempted and afflicted, discouraged and despondent, and of little faith. They include those overtaken in fault and weighed down by guilt and wrongdoing and unrest and dissatisfaction, which lower and degrade humanity more than hardship or toil or poverty do. They include those who seem defective or helpless or who fail to meet the ideas of others, needy children, and poor and distressed workers.
To bear their infirmities is to patiently support and carry them and help build them up until the weak become strong, seeking the neighbor's good after the pattern of Christ who did not live to gratify himself. It is to use strength and influence patiently and lovingly in support rather than driving the weak away or discouraging them or wounding them, even when help requires personal sacrifice and care in relating. Faultfinding and criticism while claiming to do God's service violates this duty and exposes faultfinding itself as weakness and besetting sin, since reproaches aimed at the Lord's servants fall on Christ himself.
Not to please ourselves is not to live to gratify self or to seek own comfort and preference and satisfaction and way. It is not to insist on exact rules or to stand on dignity, nor to hold to self-esteem and self-importance, nor to let selfishness have controlling power. It is instead to adapt conduct and labor to people's differing needs for their good and spiritual growth, and to choose the work in which one can best serve God and do the will of the heavenly Father.
Christ the Selfless Pattern
Christ is the pattern of the verse because He did not please Himself or seek His own pleasure, ease, and comfort, but bore reproach. That bearing included taking reproaches directed at others upon Himself, and also bearing the reproaches directed against God. Therefore those who are strong are to bear patiently with the weaknesses of the weak instead of pleasing themselves, seeking a neighbor's good to build him up, putting self aside, keeping peace, and helping those who need help so they may grow spiritually. In shepherding work this means caring for the flock with tenderness, especially the tempted, afflicted, and discouraged, serving for their good and growth. Scripture was written to teach believers, so that through patience and the comfort it gives they may have hope and live in unity.
His self-denial went so far as emptying Himself of glory, clothing divinity with humanity in order to touch humanity and reveal God's love. He came not to live a life of pleasure but to seek and to save the lost, and God commended His love in that while men were still sinners Christ died for them. That complete self-surrender is the standard for guarding the lips from guile, holding correct principles whatever the cost, working the works of God, denying self-indulgence in spending and home adornment, turning over a new leaf, and laboring earnestly for those around whose souls are as precious as one's own, remembering that giving is more blessed than receiving. Those who thus labor together with God to win souls are joined by heavenly intelligences standing close beside everyone working earnestly, so that both laborer and those labored for glorify God.
Following Christ therefore requires self-denial and self-sacrifice rather than choosing one's own comfort. This may require giving up quiet, rest, and freedom from care, accepting difficult responsibilities, and risking reproach in order to help someone who is erring and carry the weaknesses and burdens of those who need help. Christ, not human standards, is the standard of perfect character, and following Him means copying His self-denial and self-sacrifice.
Contemplating His life, spirit, and love at all times and in all places, without letting business activities crowd that contemplation out, gives deeper knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. It teaches the lesson of meekness and lowliness of heart and reveals the disinterested love, pure benevolence, and unselfishness of His religion, loving in deed and in truth. So practiced, bearing the weak means lifting drooping hands and feeble knees and making straight paths so the lame is healed rather than turned aside.
Edification and Unity
Bearing the weak means not seeking one's own pleasure but seeking a neighbor's good to build him up spiritually, and this calls for self-denial and loving unity in service. It is pleasing one's neighbor for his good to edification, following Christ who did not please himself but bore reproaches directed at others. It seeks to lift drooping hands and feeble knees and to make straight paths, so that the lame is healed rather than turned aside. Helping one another in this way is how believers live in unity and peace.
What was written beforehand was written for learning, so that through patience and the comfort Scripture gives believers may have hope. That patience and comfort sustain hope and help believers live in unity, keep peace, and put self aside for the good and spiritual growth of others. They are to follow after things that make for peace and edifying speech and action.
When God's people practice such patient forbearance and self-denial, God grants them to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus. In this way they become one as Christ is one with the Father, receive one another as Christ received them to the glory of God, and with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even joined to Christ in peace and unity. Believers are thus to live in unity so that together they glorify God.
Lack of unity and lack of love among members must be overcome, for selfishness and a fierce, self-centered spirit must be put aside for the sake of peace and unity. Letting displeasure produce dissension gives way to setting self aside, helping others, and living in peace and unity. Such disunity grieves angels and the Spirit of God, and the remedy is walking in love, overcoming selfishness, and caring for one another.
Restoring the Weak Tenderly
The strong must help those who have gone wrong rather than cutting them off or casting them aside when a brother is overtaken in fault and disappoints. Restoration is to be in the spirit of meekness, not in a proud, officious, masterly manner, with each restorer considering his own danger of being tempted, and so bearing one another's burdens to fulfill the law of Christ. The erring are to be encouraged and strengthened with every aid possible, with energy, wisdom, and tender sympathy, so they can overcome temptation, regain spiritual health, and be ready for the Judgment. Faults are not to be exaggerated, and the erring are not to be treated with cruel severity or refused help.
Help is to be given with pity, courtesy, kindness, patience, tenderness, and compassion suited to each person's particular needs, especially for the tempted, afflicted, despondent, and those burdened by doubt, infirmity, sin, or weak faith. The strong come as a visible friend in Christ's stead, a connecting link to fasten trembling faith upon God, giving earnest interest to lift the tried brother above thinking of himself. Such blessed work is to be done in Christ's name with a loving, tender spirit, as Christ has pitied and helped us in weakness and sinfulness. Pride and selfishness must not withhold it, and errors are to be corrected without making sport of infirmity or weakness.
No believer is to be lightly esteemed, treated as unimportant, or regarded with contempt because of weak faith, wavering steps, or shortcomings, including ministers God has accepted whatever their background or former position. Strength, including advantages of education, character, refinement, Christian training, and religious experience, creates a duty of loving, restorative help, not accusation, pride, disparagement, cruelty, or severity. Conduct that discourages people or drives them away from the truth and farther from the Saviour violates the duty to bear patiently with the struggling. A person who seems great may be lowly in God's sight, while the self-important may be lightly esteemed.
Faultfinding and criticism while claiming to do God's service violates the duty to bear infirmities patiently instead of gratifying self and insisting on one's own way. Such faultfinding exposes weakness and besetting sin, for reproaches directed at the Lord's servants fall upon Christ himself. Instead each one is to give account of himself to God rather than judging one another, to seek a neighbor's good for building up after Christ who did not live to gratify himself, to put no stumbling block or occasion to fall in a brother's way, and to be doers of the Word and not hearers only, with none of self and all of Christ.
Bearing the weak requires guarding the tongue, speaking no provoking or contentious word, but speaking kindly, tenderly, and pleasantly to encourage, refresh, and build up faith. It forbids talking about the faults and sins of others and requires refusing to listen when another begins such criticism, turning a deaf ear to it, while reporting any good of another and rejoicing in truth rather than iniquity. Errors are corrected without making sport of infirmity, what is good in character is strengthened without blame, confidence is cultivated rather than suspicion, and brethren are drawn nigh to with respect, love, humility, and condescension rather than wisdom in one's own conceits or a murmuring, faultfinding spirit. When tempted to speak rashly or when harshly spoken to, not a word is to be uttered in retaliation, for silence is the greatest rebuke to a faultfinder or irritated temper; instead each one is to quarrel with self, confess personal sins, humble the heart before God, overcome hereditary and cultivated faults of character, and keep the eye fixed on Jesus, who does not find fault but lays open perils to deliver from them. This includes patient, practical help for one weakened by temptation, such as one struggling with intemperance, to break free, recover, and avoid repeating the same course.
God observes and blesses self-denial and self-sacrifice that makes a chance for a tried brother, lifts him above thinking of himself, and keeps him from sinking in temptation. By contrast, a quarrelsome, faultfinding disposition will never find entrance into the city of God.
Ministry and Daily Service
Ministers and shepherds fulfill the call of the strong to carry the weaknesses of the weak instead of seeking their own pleasure by attending to the needs of the flock with tender care, especially for those who are tempted, afflicted, and discouraged, serving for their good and growth. This requires accepting individual responsibility in service and putting aside self-esteem and self-importance to willingly carry burdens for others. It means adapting conduct and labor to people's differing and varied needs so as to help them, rather than insisting on exact rules or standing on dignity, with the aim of the neighbor's good and spiritual growth. The pattern is Christ's selfless ministry, for he did not please himself but bore reproach for others.
Ministry is not preaching alone but relieving the sick and suffering, helping the needy, and speaking words of comfort to the desponding and those of little faith. Those who are strong must carry the weaknesses of the weak until the weak become strong, including the sense of guilt weighing down souls near and far, for it is guilt, wrongdoing, unrest, and dissatisfaction, not hardship, toil, or poverty, that lowers and degrades humanity. Bearing the weak also includes showing Christ's tenderness and compassion and meeting the practical necessities of poor and needy workers, setting aside self-pleasing to accept God-given responsibility to help others. The verse includes patiently caring for helpless or needy children, encouraging and teaching them even when they err or tax patience, which may inconvenience the helper, as Jesus suffered and bore with sinful people to help them. It calls for helping unfortunate and distressed people, including those in one's own community, and exercising care to limit demands on people in hardship.
Those who are strong should not live merely to please themselves but should use their lives to benefit others and be a blessing to society, for amusements are not innocent or harmless if they leave people less able to perform their ordinary duties faithfully. This requires complete self-surrender, being strict with self, guarding the lips from guile, refusing to bring false principles into dealings with others, working the works of God and holding to right principles at any cost so souls are kept in the safe path. It means denying self-indulgence in spending and home adornment to help the cause of truth, using means economically, putting the word of God above pictures and ornaments, pleasing the neighbor for good to build him up, following after peace and edifying speech and action, letting light shine in appeals and warnings and by holy example to lead friends heavenward. The standard is Christ, who emptied himself of glory, clothed divinity with humanity to touch humanity and reveal God's love, and came to seek and save the lost instead of living a life of pleasure, even bearing the reproaches that fell on God, and what was written aforetime was written for learning to give patience and comfort and hope, so that God may grant believers to be like-minded according to Jesus Christ and with one mind and mouth glorify God the Father.
The strong are fitted to bear the infirmities of the weak and serve them unselfishly only when brain-power and talent of speech are sanctified. As God's stewards to whom capabilities are given for work in the Lord's work with its many branches, each man and woman must in humility of mind support the weak and work in holy Christian love for the good of the other instead of pleasing and glorifying self. Those in responsible positions must put aside selfishness and place workers where their ability can be used in other lines, such as canvassing, rather than keeping them to keep up appearances. Each person must labor earnestly for those around them, whose souls are just as precious in God's sight as their own, remembering that giving is more blessed than receiving. Those who thus labor together with God to win souls have heavenly intelligences standing close beside everyone earnestly working, so that both the laborer and those labored for glorify God, and when church and school help each other, with love and fellowship entering every line of work, hearts are knit together in love for Christ and for perishing souls and the fruit is seen in good words fitly spoken.