devisiveness. This will always in jure our mutual witness. At one time a new road was being constructed beneath the mall in Washington, D.C. It was de signed to carry automobiles from the Virginia side of the District onto the busiest part of northeast Washington. When the engineers began the project they observed that it would be a very difficult thing because the ground was within ten feet of the water level. How to keep a flood from wash ing out the construction was the problem. It was necessary to in stall extra thick walls in the tun nels, placing pumps in operation which ran constantly, offsetting the pressure of the water. Should those pumps stop, the tunnel would be flooded and the roadway made absolutely useless. In the same way there are constant pressures of sin within Christians. These could eventually destroy unity among believers and will render our wit ness useless. We must offset them by the supernatural realities of Christian comfort, fellowship, love, mercy and compassion. Consider first the consolation we have in Christ. In the original the word means "encouragement" or "support." It was used in archi tecture fôr a bracket employed to hold up the arch of a building. Phillips paraphrases it, "Now if your experience of Christ's encour agement and love means anything to you, live together in harmony and live together in love." This same support Jesus Christ gave His followers that they might live to gether in love. He taught them to covet the lowest places giving hon or to everybody else. Love is cer tainly the highest virtue of life
(John 17:21). This is not only an organizational unity but also a vis ible relationship. It is to be seen by the world as well as by us. The second reality Paul speaks about is the "comfort of love." What a tremendous incentive. The Holy Spirit knew that Christians are sometimes hard to get along with. Things were not much dif ferent with personalities then as they are today. Yet, we have a di vine purpose to see more than just someone else's faults. Our love must be patterned after that which caused Cod to love us through Jesus Christ. Certainly we will find such an expression for others im possible in our own strength. This is why we have to look to the Saviour to impart His love for oth ers to our own lives. Quite frankly, some of the hard est people I have to deal with are those who profess to be Christians. Their hypocrisy is a sad thing to see. I have found that a person can be a deacon in the church while still living a very ungodly life, displeasing to the Lord the rest of the week. This is why love ought to permeate our hearts as we seek to minister to others, es pecially to our fellow believers who may have unbecoming ways about them. Jesus said, "A new command ment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I love you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). This statement leaves no room for qualifications. It is san forized against all shrinkage to hu man proportions. Your love must be pure for others as Christ's love is pure for you. Have you ever experienced this wonderful love? In Philippians 1:3-5 we saw that
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