Self-Will | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 29, 1872

Self-Will.

It is not safe for us to always have our own way. If we do, we become obstinate and self-willed, and incapable of bearing contradiction. When we get into such a state, we are all well-nigh incurable. For what is really a very great vice, we then esteem a great virtue. Our self-will wears, in our own eyes, the guise of zeal for God. Submission to the judgment of others, as spiritual as ourselves, even where no principle is involved, and where the peace and welfare of a whole society may be at stake, looks to us like compromising; and so we dare not yield. To pause, because of the consequences that are almost certain to result from our rash actions, has, in our eyes, the appearance of distrusting God. No one is always right. The judgment of the very best is liable to be swayed by ignorance or prejudice. Here we know only in part. Our understanding is imperfect, and our knowledge limited. We should not, then, in matters where others are as much interested as ourselves, always insist upon having our way. We should learn to yield fully and gracefully. The divine rule is, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. This does not mean that everybody must submit to us. The submission is to be mutual. We, ourselves, must sometimes yield. The earth attracts the moon, but the moon at the same time attracts the earth just as much in proportion to its size. This is the cause of tides. So we must make toward others as well as require them to make toward us. The back-bone supports the body. It is not rigid and inflexible, but is full of joints. If it would not bend, it could not keep straight. A loss of flexibility produces deformity. A symmetrical Christian can keep straight alone and do his duty even when others do not concur in his opinion. Peter did not leave the church because the advice of James was followed.—Earnest Christian.