CONDITIONS ON WHICH GOD'S KEEPING DEPENDS Part 3

The wisdom of the fathers

CONDITIONS ON WHICH GOD'S KEEPING DEPENDS Part 3

6. If we desire to be preserved blameless let us abide in the love of Christ. Let us persuade ourselves that He loves us infinitely and perfectly, and that He delights in us continually, and is wholly committed to us to carry us through and fulfil in us all the good pleasure of His will. Let us not think that we must squeeze from Him, by hard constraint and persuasion, the blessings which our faith compels, but that He has set His heart on our highest good, and that He is working out for us, in His loving purpose, all that we can receive of blessing.Relaxing like John, in His bosom, let us each reckon ourselves to be the disciple whom Jesus loved, and, like Enoch, let us claim by faith the testimony that we please God, and looking up with confidence we will find His responsive smile and benediction. The true secret of pleasing God is to trust Him, to believe in His love to us, to be guileless children, and to count ourselves beloved of God.

7. If we desired to be preserved blameless, let us remember that God's will for us is not a hard and impossible task but a reasonable, practicable and gentle standard, and that He is not continually frowning upon us because we cannot reach some astonishing height, or imitate some prodigy of martyrdom and service, but He expects of us a simple, faithful life in the quiet sphere which He has assigned to us; and that we are truly blameless in His sight when we are following, moment by moment, His perfect will in life's duties as they meet us.He adapts the standard of duty according to our circumstances and ability. The parent expects less of the lisping child than the teacher does of the older student or the employer does of the full-grown man. God knows our strength and capacity, and His will is adapted to our growth, and His “yoke is easy and his burden light.”Therefore, let us not accuse ourselves because we have not yet reached some ideal that, by and by, we will have attained to. Are we meeting His will today and saying “yes” to His claims as the moments pass?

Then, indeed, we are blameless in His sight. At the same time, let us not allow this comfort to allure us to a false extreme. If, on the other hand, God is pressing us forward by His Spirit to higher reaches, let us not be content with less, for we will not be blameless unless we press forward, that we may apprehend all for which we are apprehended of Christ Jesus. With many of us, God is not finding fault for actual disobedience, perhaps, but for shortcoming and a too easy contentment with past attainments. The great question is, Are we obedient to the voice of His Spirit as He calls us onward, step by step?

(from "Wholly Sanctified" by A.B. Simpson)