GOD'S WILL: "OBEY!"

          By A. W. Tozer

          If ye will not obey . . . then shall the hand of
          the Lord be against you.     1Samuel 12: .18

             Independence is a strong human trait, so men and
         women everywhere bristle when anyone says, "You
         owe obedience!" In the natural sense, we do not take
         kindly to the prospect of yielding obedience to anyone.

             Both Old and New Testaments of the Bible make it
         plain that sin is disobedience to the Law of God.  Paul's
         picture of sinners in Ephesians concludes that the wrath
         of God will come upon those who are "the children of
         disobedience."

             So, we live in a generation of men and women alienated
         from God, and who make a great case for individualism
         and "the right of self-determination."  The individual's
         strong statement is this: "I belong to myself.  No one has
         the authority to require my obedience!"

             Now, if God had made us to be mere machines, we would
         not have the power of self-determination.  He made us in
         His image, to be moral creatures with the power, but not
         the right, to choose evil.  We have the right to be good.
         We never have the right to be bad because God, the Creator, is good.  If we choose to be unholy, we are using a right that is not ours!

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        Yours in Christ,
         Paul N. F.