Obedience
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Testament Scripture, and examine closely your own walk, and ascertain in what particular your obedience to Christ is deficient. Be upright, honest, and sincere in your inquiry. Let your fervent prayer be, "Lord, what will You have me to do? Is there any precept of Your word slighted, any command disobeyed, any cross not taken up? Is there any desire to withhold my neck from Your yoke, or to withdraw my shoulder from Your burden, or to mark out a smoother path than that which You have chosen and bid me walk in? Is there any secret framing of excuse for my disobedience, any temporizing, any carnal feeling, any worldly motive, any fear of man, any shrinking from consequences? Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. You are precious to my soul, for You have borne my sins, endured my curse, carried my cross; and in return do only ask, as an evidence of how much I owe, and how much I love, that I should keep Your commandments, and follow Your example. Now, Lord, take my poor heart, and let it be Yours, Yours only, and Yours forever. Let Your sweet love constrain me to 'run in the way of Your commandments,' for this will I do when You shall enlarge my heart." Then will follow the precious fruits of obedience, even as the bud expands into the blossom, and the blossom ripens into the fruit. There will be a growth, a delightful expansion of the life of God in the soul! and with the increase of the Divine life, there will be an increase of all the precious 'fruits of the Spirit.' "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel! I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. Oh that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." See that your Redeemer is glorified in your obedience; that for the happiness of your soul, and for the honor of Christ, you "stand complete in all the will of God!"
The branch of our subject, thus imperfectly placed before the reader, is deeply practical. In what a solemn and responsible position it places every believer! "You are my witnesses, says the Lord." "I have created him for my glory." "You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Then, how "very jealous for the Lord God of hosts" should we be! How vigilant, lest in any degree, or in any way, we withhold from Christ the glory due unto Him. There are many ways by which we may be betrayed into this grievous sin- a careless walk- unmortified sin- self-indulgence- a light and volatile spirit- a neglect of means- a distant walk with God- coldness of love towards the saints. But especially mixing up with, and indulging in, a sinful conformity to the world, its fashions, its pleasures, its literature, its religion. Christian professor! can you rigidly conform to these fashions- can you spend your hours over that novel- can you attend that ball- can you move in that dance- can you embark in that enterprise, and glorify Jesus by it? Put the question fairly, honestly, and closely to your conscience, "Do I bring glory to Christ by this? Is my Redeemer thus magnified in me before the world and the Church?" Oh, aim for a high standard! Do not be a common-place professor. Do not be an ordinary Christian. Shun not to be singular. Dare for the glory of Christ to come out of the world, not to touch the unclean thing, and to be separate, set apart for God alone. "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit! so shall you be my disciples." Thank God for the little, but, oh, aim for the 'much fruit!' -strong faith, ardent love, self-consuming zeal, unreserved obedience, holy, and entire, and supreme surrender. "From me is your fruit found." Your union with Christ, your living in Christ, your close adherence to Christ, your constant drawing from Christ, will be found to involve the happy secret of that great fruitfulness which brings most glory to the Triune God. Come- drawn by grace, constrained by love, attracted by the glory and the preciousness of Jesus- come now to that one' altar which sanctifies both the giver and the gift,' and as you lay yourself upon it, body, soul, and spirit, exclaim with the apostle, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." The solemn vow is taken! The holy surrender is made! It is seen, it is heard, it is ratified in heaven. May you be so strengthened from above, "that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ," is the devout and fervent desire of one who, with you, through time and through eternity, hopes to unite in the grateful, adoring, and never ceasing hallelujah,
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!" Winslow
Testament Scripture, and examine closely your own walk, and ascertain in what particular your obedience to Christ is deficient. Be upright, honest, and sincere in your inquiry. Let your fervent prayer be, "Lord, what will You have me to do? Is there any precept of Your word slighted, any command disobeyed, any cross not taken up? Is there any desire to withhold my neck from Your yoke, or to withdraw my shoulder from Your burden, or to mark out a smoother path than that which You have chosen and bid me walk in? Is there any secret framing of excuse for my disobedience, any temporizing, any carnal feeling, any worldly motive, any fear of man, any shrinking from consequences? Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. You are precious to my soul, for You have borne my sins, endured my curse, carried my cross; and in return do only ask, as an evidence of how much I owe, and how much I love, that I should keep Your commandments, and follow Your example. Now, Lord, take my poor heart, and let it be Yours, Yours only, and Yours forever. Let Your sweet love constrain me to 'run in the way of Your commandments,' for this will I do when You shall enlarge my heart." Then will follow the precious fruits of obedience, even as the bud expands into the blossom, and the blossom ripens into the fruit. There will be a growth, a delightful expansion of the life of God in the soul! and with the increase of the Divine life, there will be an increase of all the precious 'fruits of the Spirit.' "Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel! I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. Oh that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." See that your Redeemer is glorified in your obedience; that for the happiness of your soul, and for the honor of Christ, you "stand complete in all the will of God!"
The branch of our subject, thus imperfectly placed before the reader, is deeply practical. In what a solemn and responsible position it places every believer! "You are my witnesses, says the Lord." "I have created him for my glory." "You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Then, how "very jealous for the Lord God of hosts" should we be! How vigilant, lest in any degree, or in any way, we withhold from Christ the glory due unto Him. There are many ways by which we may be betrayed into this grievous sin- a careless walk- unmortified sin- self-indulgence- a light and volatile spirit- a neglect of means- a distant walk with God- coldness of love towards the saints. But especially mixing up with, and indulging in, a sinful conformity to the world, its fashions, its pleasures, its literature, its religion. Christian professor! can you rigidly conform to these fashions- can you spend your hours over that novel- can you attend that ball- can you move in that dance- can you embark in that enterprise, and glorify Jesus by it? Put the question fairly, honestly, and closely to your conscience, "Do I bring glory to Christ by this? Is my Redeemer thus magnified in me before the world and the Church?" Oh, aim for a high standard! Do not be a common-place professor. Do not be an ordinary Christian. Shun not to be singular. Dare for the glory of Christ to come out of the world, not to touch the unclean thing, and to be separate, set apart for God alone. "Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit! so shall you be my disciples." Thank God for the little, but, oh, aim for the 'much fruit!' -strong faith, ardent love, self-consuming zeal, unreserved obedience, holy, and entire, and supreme surrender. "From me is your fruit found." Your union with Christ, your living in Christ, your close adherence to Christ, your constant drawing from Christ, will be found to involve the happy secret of that great fruitfulness which brings most glory to the Triune God. Come- drawn by grace, constrained by love, attracted by the glory and the preciousness of Jesus- come now to that one' altar which sanctifies both the giver and the gift,' and as you lay yourself upon it, body, soul, and spirit, exclaim with the apostle, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death." The solemn vow is taken! The holy surrender is made! It is seen, it is heard, it is ratified in heaven. May you be so strengthened from above, "that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ," is the devout and fervent desire of one who, with you, through time and through eternity, hopes to unite in the grateful, adoring, and never ceasing hallelujah,
"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift!" Winslow
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