DOING GOD’S WILL
By David Lipscomb
Gospel Advocate, Vol. 38, No. 31 (October 8, 1896), 644
“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” A class of children was asked how God’s will is done in heaven. A little girl answered: “It is done right away.” That was a good answer. Prompt obedience is pleasing to God. Procrastination, postponing obedience to a more convenient season, defeats the ends and aims of obedience. The end of obedience is to train and school the person to submit to the will of God, to be governed by that will, that the character formed by doing the will of God may be made like God, so fitted for companionship with him forever. The soul that postpones and delays obedience never obeys God at all. “Now is the accepted time.”
But there are other conditions involved in doing the will of God in heaven beside promptness. In heaven God’s will is supreme. There is no hesitating about whether it is best to obey his will or not. No other will rebels against the will of God. No one parlays as to whether some other way is not as good or better than God’s way. The supreme desire is to do God’s will just as he gives it. There are no additions to, no taking from, no changing or modifying the will of God. Just as God gave the spirits in heaven delight to do it. When we pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we should conform our life to this prayer. To pray that his will be done, yet to change or modify that will, is to draw near to him with the mouth, and honor him with the lips, while the heart is far him. In heaven his will is done in a spirit of loving obedience. The angels in heaven drink into the spirit of God until they have no desire or wish other than to do the will of God. They perform his will with a sincere desire to do only his will. His will is their will. His will pervades all, animates all, moves all: so all move as by one pervading, controlling will.
We should so take and cherish the will of God in our hearts that his will will swallow up our wills, and that his will will reign supreme in our lives. Jesus showed the true example of the service in heaven when he said: “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.” Doing the will of god was as needful to his spiritual life as meat was to the life of his body. As meat furnishes strength to our bodies, so doing the will of God gave life and strength to the spirit of our Lord. So we should understand that to do the will of God is needful to our spiritual life, as meat is needful to our fleshly bodies. Without we take the will of God into our hearts we can have no life within us.
God does need our service. We need to do his will that we may have life. No work that we can do can bring life and strength to us save the doing the will of God. “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” (John 14: 32.)