Editorial

Few of us have ever felt a tinge of regret for being too kind but we have all felt conscious stricken because of a curt word said in haste.

It isn’t always what we say either that hurts but often the way it is said that shows our love or our lack of it.

Kind words are the sweet tones of the heart and it is needless to talk about love for God and love for our fellow man if we are unkind in our dealings with one another.

All too often, we show the least kindness to those we should love the most. Do we greet one another in the morning with a kind word or do we bark a gruff “where’s the paper?” or “why isn’t breakfast ready?”

Kindness, like the measles, is highly contagious and if we will only cast kind words upon the waters of life we shall find that they return. Kindness isn’t something just to talk about, it is a way to act and is a direct command from God. Paul tells us to “be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”

We are creatures of habit and it is possible to become so absorbed in our own petty problems and grievances that we forget to be kind. We may tell ourselves that we are kind and good but no one else would know it by the way we act. If this shoe fits us, let us recognize it in ourself and begin again to be kind, to be tender hearted, to forgive and show love everywhere we go. Much to our surprise and pleasure we will discover that others are kinder and more considerate too when we show kindness.

We all have problems, sorrow, and heartaches and we never know how much good a kind word does. It may encourage one who is on the verge of dispair. We know that it will soften and mellow our lives and we shall more nearly reflect the personality of our Lord Jesus. Christ told us that we must be kind to be children of the Highest, for God is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

Let us also be kind to the unthankful. We must put our Christianity to work in our everyday life or we are a hypocrite.

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; For­bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any : even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.”

When we stand before the judge of all the earth we shall not feel a tinge of regret for having been too kind.

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.” Ecc. 9:10.

There is nothing more common than death, it goes on all around us every day. Most of the time the obituary column contains only names but now and then one of our own family has their name in it, and it is certain that if things continue, in due time our name will also one day find its way to the obituary column.

In spite of the reality of death, it is common to find men and women living as if they would live forever. Perhaps because we are optomists, but more likely because we do not like to face unpleasant facts, we tend to put out of our mind the fact that we are walking steadily to­ward our grave.

Most people seem to more or less drift along in the sea of humanity without any real goal until finally they spring a leak and sink into the grave. All their time, all their money, all their thinking has been de­voted to trivial and unimportant details. Consider the topics of con­versation that interest our neighbors and fellow workers. Sports, TV, cars, vacations and such like. How true are the words of the hymn, “vain his ambition, noise, and show, vain are the cares which rack his mind, he heaps up treasures mixed with woe, he dies and leaves them all behind.”

This is the very thing Solomon is warning us against. Now is the time to find something to do and do it with our might. It isn’t nearly as important how long we live as how we live. Methuselah lived 969 years. Christ lived 33 years. We do not know what Methuselah did in all those years but look what Christ accomplished in only three and one half years of preaching.

As long as we are alive, there is work for us to do. It is our responsi­bility to find it and do it. There is more to it than this. We are to do it with our might. A half-hearted effort will not do. Today there is a tendency to do as little as possible to get by. The idea of doing some­thing with our might is not even considered. Find out what the mini­mum standards are and aim there.

The minimum standards for an entrance into God’s Kingdom is our best. Jesus told us, “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants : we have done that which was our duty to do.” Luke 17:10.

We need to remember that eternal life is the gift of God but He will only bestow it upon those who have served Him with their might.

We know that there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wis­dom, in the grave so we had better find a work to do now, and do it with our might. How much longer we have to live is not important. It is how we live the rest of our life that will determine Christ’s answer to us when he returns to reward every man according to his works.