(An Excerpt of longer article entitled, "Work In Christ's Line.")
"What kind of a will am I cultivating? Have I been gratifying my own desires, confirming myself in selfishness and obstinacy? If we are doing this, we are in peril; for Satan will always rule the will that is not under the control of the Spirit of God. When we place our will in unison with the will of God, the obedience that was exemplified in the life of Christ will be seen in our lives."
There is a sustaining power in the deed done to benefit and bless humanity. This was the power that strengthened the world’s Redeemer. He declared, “I came down from heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” His will was put into active exercise to save the souls of men, but He waited and lived and worked in dependence upon God. In everything He moved in perfect harmony with the Father. The Commander of all heaven, He humbled Himself to stand at the head of fallen humanity, to reveal to human beings perfect obedience to all God’s commandments. His servants today would do well to ask themselves, What kind of a will am I cultivating? Have I been gratifying my own desires, confirming myself in selfishness and obstinacy? If we are doing this, we are in peril; for Satan will always rule the will that is not under the control of the Spirit of God. When we place our will in unison with the will of God, the obedience that was exemplified in the life of Christ will be seen in our lives. God requires us to keep His commandments, that we may cultivate the attributes which made the Saviour’s life pure, holy, and undefiled. – {ST December 20, 1899 Par. 2}
Many blessings are lost to Christ’s professed followers because they have so limited an experience in being crucified to the world. There is nothing so hard as the crucifixion of the will. Christ was tempted in all points like as we are; but His will was ever kept on the side of God’s will. In His humanity He had the same free will that Adam had in Eden. He could have yielded to temptation as Adam yielded; and Adam, by believing and obeying God, could have resisted temptation as Christ resisted it. Had Christ so willed it, when tempted in the wilderness He could have commanded the stones to be made bread. He could have cast Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple; He could have yielded to Satan’s request to fall down and worship him, the usurper of the world. But at every point He met the tempter with, “It is written.” His will was in obedience to the will of God. The will of the Father was revealed throughout His entire life. It was a part of His very being. – {ST December 20, 1899 Par. 3}
Christ’s obedience to His Father’s commandments is to be the measure of our obedience. Those who follow Christ, if they would be complete in Him, must keep their will surrendered to the will of God. The man Christ Jesus was the greatest Teacher the world ever knew. During their three years of discipline under His instruction, the disciples received many precious lessons. They also received rebuke for their dulness of apprehension. They could not take in the great scenes presented to them. But when their Teacher was about to leave them, He bade them tarry in Jerusalem until they should be imbued with power from on high before going forth to preach the truth of the kingdom of God. The Saviour well knew that their arguments, however logical, would not melt the hard heart, or break through the crust of selfishness and worldliness. The truth could only be effectual when coming from hearts made warm and lips made eloquent by a living knowledge of the Way, the Truth, and the Life. – {ST December 20, 1899 Par. 4}