It is not easy to realize the very close relation that exists between one's individual problems and the problems of the church; not only of one's local church, but of the Cause at large. There is, however, in truth, only one problem, that of working out one's relation to God. And it is the same for the church as for the individual. We are tempted to think, at times, that we are merely individuals; that our concerns are our own; that to ourselves we stand or fall. But this is not true. Just in proportion as we express right thinking or wrong thinking, as we bar out error or admit it, are we a blessing or an injury to the church. No one is too insignificant to be an appreciable part of the whole.
In a summer home whose every window and door is carefully screened against insects, one of the inmates woke early one morning to the annoyance of buzzing flies. Her screens were in place, yet there was no more thought of rest for her; she must devote an hour to getting rid of the little torments that had found an entrance. When, finally, she left her room, she found that one window in the adjoining room had been carelessly left without its screen. It was only one unscreened window in a house where all the windows were guarded, but through that one opening had come enough flies to keep the family at work all day.
The lesson was not to be forgotten. The, church may be alert; it may be guarding its thought, but if through a single personality jealousy or criticism or self-will or materiality or indifference enters, not only the careless individual, but the whole church may be called to suffer. Can we afford, even in the smallest way, to bring injury instead of blessing to the Cause which means to us the revelation of Truth?
