Obedience and Sacrifice the True Test of Love to God.
By E. Hilliard
If the majority of professors of religion had more regard for the word of God, there would not be such a slackness in obeying its teachings. If we would consider the commands we read from its sacred pages, the same as though their Author stood in our presence, we would not be so reluctant to obey. To know God's commands, to learn our Saviour's instruction, we must search diligently the word. Some portions of Scripture may be hard to understand, but with comparison and a close study of the bearing that one passage has upon another, we may be enabled to find its true meaning. This effort, however, must be accompanied with earnest prayer, to be fully successful. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14. The Bible was written by the aid of the Holy Spirit, and many truths are buried just far enough beneath the surface to require his assistance to bring them to light. Whoever has a desire to obey the teachings of the Bible will also have a desire to know what it teaches. If there is a difference of opinion respecting those things which affect the soul's salvation, no one who realizes the worth of his soul, will rest easy until he has made a prayerful research into the sacred word. He will not depend upon a happy flight of feeling as a warrant of his acceptance with God, but will earnestly desire the Spirit's presence to quicken his mental faculties so that he can readily comprehend the truth upon the question at issue. Some will not investigate certain unpopular themes, for fear they may be sustained by the Bible. How much does such a soul love eternal life? Does he not love the world and the praise of men more than God and the world to come? We are just as responsible for our opportunities of knowing truth as though we knew the truth and rejected it. If we shun a knowledge of the truth because it requires a sacrifice to obey, can we expect that he who left the glories of Heaven and sacrificed his life for us will give us a life without end? "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us." We cannot more positively deny him than by refusing to obey his precepts. If we love Christ we will obey him. He says, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." John 15:10. He told the rich young ruler that came to him to inquire what he should do to inherit eternal life, to keep the commandments (Matt. 19:16, 17) and to sell all that he had and give to the poor. Does any one suppose that our Saviour would require such a sacrifice upon the part of the rich nobleman, and then excuse us because we have to make a small sacrifice to obey the same commandments that he told him to keep? Nay, verily, his commands are just as binding on us, and his demand for obedience just the same, no matter what the personal inconvenience, or worldly loss. "If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him." No better proof can be given that the love of the Father is not in us than when we turn away from his requirements, for worldly prospects. E. HILLIARD.