The bruised reed and the smoldering wick are people who have been injured spiritually or who have only a bit of life in them. When we are living in victory in Christ it is easy to despise those who are very weak in faith. But the Servant of the Lord, because he or she is resting in Christ and not vaunting himself or herself, is able to deal very gently with the least of the sheep.

All of us need to be gentle with every person; harshness has no place in a man or woman of God. But there are some people who have a special heart for the weak. Through them Christ reaches out and gently fans the flame of spiritual life until progress is apparent. Every pastor is gratified when he sees an individual who has never shown signs of spiritual life suddenly come forth in strength. We must have infinite patience with every individual.

One time when I was becoming disgusted and impatient with certain believers the Lord spoke to me. He said: "Never hinder anyone from coming and offering his sacrifice." I have never forgotten those words. No matter how perverse the believer appears to be, the Lord always encourages his slightest desire to serve God. After all, we do not know what is taking place in his heart. Isn't that the truth?

The Lord cares about people who are spiritually weak just as the mother cares about her handicapped child.

"In faithfulness he will bring forth justice." If we are not a faithful person we are not qualified to appear with Him and attempt to bring forth justice among the peoples of the earth.

Faithfulness is our willingness to persevere in what we have committed ourselves to do, even though we experience pain in doing so. The unfaithful person flees when hardships are experienced.

Faithfulness is one of the major characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's faithful witness. He is always faithful and true. If God and Christ were not faithful it would be well we never had been born.

To be in the image of the Lord we must be faithful. In America today, faithfulness is not held out as a supremely desirable virtue to cultivate. We see in our government the lack of faithfulness and truth among some of the highly placed leaders. The attitude that we should take whatever we can even though someone else has to suffer for it is common among the secular population and sometimes in the churches.

But God does not change. He always is faithful. He always keeps His Word. We are being made in His image. We are to keep God's Word faithfully, faithfully, faithfully, never changing no matter what it costs.

We do not perceive matters as God does. We will live to see the day when people we have known are highly exalted in the Presence of Christ while we ourselves may be asked to take a lowly place. We may find this very difficult, almost impossible to bear with a good attitude.

To be continued.