SUBMERGE OUR WILLS IN THE WILL OF GOD

“…O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt” (MATTHEW 26:39)

Where there is no freedom of choice there can be neither sin nor righteousness, because it is of the nature of (both) that they be voluntary.

 

However good an act may be, it is not good if it is imposed from without. The act of imposition destroys the moral content of the act and renders it null and void! Sin is the voluntary commission of an act known to be contrary to the will of God. Where there is no moral knowledge or where there is no voluntary choice, the act is not sinful; it cannot be, for sin is the transgression of the law and transgression must be voluntary.

 

Lucifer became Satan when he made his fateful choice: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Clearly here was a choice made against light. Both knowledge and will were present in the act.

 

Conversely, Christ revealed His holiness when He cried in His agony, “Not my will, but thine, be done.” Here was a deliberate choice made with the full knowledge of the consequences. Here two wills were in temporary conflict, the lower will of the Man who was God and the higher will of the God who was Man, and the higher will prevailed.

 

Here also was seen in glaring contrast the enormous difference between Christ and Satan, and that difference divides saint from sinner and heaven from hell. The secret of saintliness is not the destruction of the will—but the submergence of it in the will of God!