| The Every Day of Life |
Chapter 21 |
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How do they live in heaven? What is that sweet, beautiful life into whose spirit we ask now to be introduced and ultimately to be altogether transformed? There all wills are in perfect accord with the divine will. We begin our Christian life on earth with hearts and wills estranged from God, indisposed to obey him. Naturally we want to take our own way, not God’s. The beginning of the new life is the acceptance of God as our King. But not at once does the kingdom in us become fully his. It has to be subdued, and the conquest is slow. Christian growth is simply the bringing of our wills into perfect accord with God’s. It is learning to do always the things that please God. Tennyson puts this truth in striking way in two lines of “In Memoriam:”–
“Our wills are ours, we know not how–
Our wills are ours to make them thine.”
“Our wills are ours.” This is the profound truth of human sovereignty. God made us in his own image, and made us free to do, as we will. Even God himself cannot compel our will. “Our wills are ours.” Their freedom is inviolable. But this is only half the truth.
“Our wills are ours to make them thine.”
They are ours to give to God, to yield to his will. The giving must be our act, must be voluntary. Yet until we make this surrender, we have not begun to live the Christian life, nor have we begun to grow into that ideal holiness which is heaven’s common life. We begin making our wills God’s when we first begin to follow Christ. But it takes all life to make the surrender complete. Taught of God and helped by the divine Spirit, we come every day, if we are faithful, little nearer doing God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven.
“Thy will be done.” That means obedience, not partial, but full and complete. It is taking the word of God into our heart, and conforming our whole life to it. It is accepting God’s way always, cheerfully, quietly, with love and faith. This is not easy. Our natures do not incline us to do God’ will. We like to have our own way. To obey God is oftentimes to take up a cross. Much of the doing of God’s will is passive – letting the divine will be done in us. Sometimes this is like driving a plough-share through our life’s fair garden. It cuts into our plans and destroys our cherished expectations. Still, whatever this will may require, whatever it may crush, we know it is ever preparing us for the heavenly life.
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