| The Golden Gate of Prayer |
Chapter 8 |
Page 7 |
Then until we have made a surrender of our own will to God we cannot acceptably serve him. It is not enough to devote one-seventh of our time and one-tenth of our income to the Lord. It is not enough to engage in the service of Christ and to give our life to ministries of love in behalf of the poor and the troubled. It is possible to do all this and yet have in us an unsurrendered will. It is not our work, our money, our ministrations, that God wants, but our heart. When the will is truly surrendered all else will follow; but until this consecration has been made nothing else will count. While, therefore, we pray earnestly that God’s will may be done in others it should be our first concern to make our own will God’s. Until we have done this, we are not truly in the kingdom of God, which is first of all a kingdom of surrendered wills.
One reason why it is hard to learn this lesson is that to our human nature the divine will seems to set for us a severe and rigorous rule of life. It demands holiness and righteousness. It checks self-indulgence, putting a rein upon the appetites and passions, and bringing all wayward impulses and tendencies into subjection of Christ. “Take my yoke upon you” is our Lord’s first demand of those who would follow him. Our own way must be given up for our Master’s way. Whatever duty is presented must be accepted promptly, and done cheerfully, unquestioningly. Whatever is not in accord with the divine will must be put away without reluctance, without reserve. This will demands unselfishness. It bids us love our enemy and pray for those who despitefully use us. It requires us to be patient with all men, to be thoughtful and kind to every one, to love the unlovely, to be ready to serve all.
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