Article May 7, 1927 Issue

Our Own Business

EVA S. LOMBARD

Paul said , "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Just how to do this, and yet to mind our own business, is a matter calling for courage and wisdom, as well as for sincere devotion to the welfare of others. It is sometimes difficult to know when to stop doing all that we would be pleased to do for those we love.

So-called mortal mind is quite willing to accept all of supply that comes its way; but Jesus did not always encourage such a mental attitude. When he told the woman at the well that she needed "living water," and when he said to another, "Go, and sin no more," he was showing them how to be rid of their own burdens. Suppose he had simply told the adulterous woman that he did not condemn her, but had said no more; and, suppose he had not called the Samaritan woman's attention to her spiritual needs, would he have been showing them how to be free from their burdens? If Jesus had not told the one who was sick to take up his bed and walk, but had carried his bed for him, would the healing have been completed? We need great wisdom in our attempts to make things easier for others.

In destroying error, we must be careful to impersonalize the error. In healing Peter's wife's mother, Jesus "rebuked the fever." He did not tell the woman that she must be careful, and thus encourage a period of convalescence. He lifted her burden so that she could go on with her own duties. In such acts he was about his Father's business—the work to which he had been loyal from childhood.

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