Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Luke 10:36, 37.*

The church is not for perfect people. It is a healing center, a saving center. All of the people in the world are God's lost sheep. To help find the lost is our primary duty. As Christians we are face to face with Christ's command in the above scripture. To be a Christian minister, nurse, dentist, doctor, laborer, engineer—is that not part of it? Or have we taken up a position within a religious system that does not deal with the issue at all?

It is dangerous to speak of loving our neighbor as ourselves as if that is a logical consequence of belonging to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. All too often we become eager to defend our doctrinal position from the security of our own religious establishment. Often the point at which people begin to talk about how their religion differs from others signals some sort of surrender of human sensitivity and Christian concern.

Christian concern stays close to human life, human suffering, human hopes, and human salvation. When we view the great truths God has given us, they are tremendous. But God judges nothing by itself, but only in the totality of our own moral and spiritual attitudes and the way we communicate these truths to others.

Life's greatest blunder is to live just one life when you can live a thousand. We who have experienced the saving love of God are to enter the lives of those around us, to take upon ourselves the needs and the burdens of those who know not Christ.

To give a dollar in the offering or to return one hundred dollars in tithe may be either a true Christian service or it may be an escape. To give money to the church as a substitute for caring about people is a denial of what is really meant by being a Christian. To dismiss a person's needs by giving him a tract of literature is unchristian. The money we have, the ability we have, the Christian experience we have, should never be an escape from any human situation but should represent real love and compassion for other people.