The Obedient Soul

“And Moses took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people: and they say, All that the LORD hath said we will do” (Exodus 24:7).

Lust is natural inclination run wild, overlapping all restraint, and asserting its own imperious will. When we are yet in the darkness of nature, unillumined by the grace of God, these lusts fashion us. Beneath their touch we are molded or fashioned, as clay by the potter's hand. Ignorant of the abominableness of sin, of its disastrous results, of its insidious growth, we yield to it until it becomes our tyrant and our ruin.

Oh, the horror of awakening, should we see the depths of this terrible precipice descending sheer beneath us to hell! When we no longer fashion ourselves according to the former lusts, but according to the will of God – that is obedience.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of this truth. Obedience is not holiness; holiness is the possession of the soul by God. But holiness always leads to obedience. And each time we obey, we receive into our natures a little more of the Divine nature. “If ye shall indeed obey my voice, ye shall be a holy nation unto Me.” Do, then, whatever it is right to do. Forsake all which begins and ends with self. Be not satisfied with prayer and desire, but DO. And thus there will come over your face and life more likeness to the Father of your spirits; and you will be holy.

How few Christian people seem to realize that obedience in trifles, in all things to the will and law of Jesus, is the indispensable condition of life and joy and power. The obedient soul is the holy soul, penetrated and filled by the presence of God, and all aglow with light and love.

Dear Christian, resolve from this moment to live up to the margin of your light. Let this be your motto: “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” (F.B. Meyer).

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