THERE are few people in the world who do not have desires to be and to do right. They have had these desires from earliest childhood; for it is the gift of God, His plan, that all people born into the world shall have in their lives a longing for the pure and good.
Now this fact should encourage young men and women everywhere to yield themselves to God. Our heavenly Father has placed within the reach of each one that which will fully satisfy all the longings which He has created in the human heart. God is love, and He could not awaken His children to their need of righteousness and then leave them without any hope of ever obtaining it. The very fact that a young man is conscious of an ambition to be upright is an everlasting assurance that God will satisfy his ambition.
It is recorded of one of the Roman emperors that he enacted certain laws which the people were to obey under penalty of death; but when the laws were posted they were printed so small and placed so high above the people that it was impossible to read them. Of course, the people wanted to obey, for the mere fact that laws were proclaimed caused the citizens to desire to conform to them. But the purpose to obey brought only trouble and disappointment, because there was no possible way to come into touch with what was required. In fact, the purpose of the emperor was to harass, and annoy, and destroy those over whom he ruled. He delighted in the misery of his subjects.
Not so, however, with God. He is the Father as well as the king. "He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man from the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not." He delighteth in mercy. He desires that all men shall be saved. He was so anxious that no one should be lost that He gave His only-begotten Son to die for a sinful world.
This being the case, it is very easy to see that whenever or wherever any one can be found who will bring his own desire to be right to the altar of Christ, where it shall have a living connection with God's desire that he be right, there is absolutely nothing which can hinder him from being right. When man's desire and God's desire are brought together in this way, the desire becomes crystallized into fact.
Look at this in another way. God's desire to have men right is expressed in the giving of His own dear Son, in giving all that He had. He gave Himself in Christ. Now, when an individual gives expression to his desire in giving, in the bringing of himself to God, he then and there enters into a new experience,—he becomes right.4Christ Jesus takes his sin, and he takes the Saviour's righteousness.
Dear young friend, God is not tantalizing you in this matter of wanting you to be upright and pure. He is ready to provide you with all that you need to save you from both sin and sinning. He is able to save to the uttermost. He can keep you from falling. "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness."
While it is true that only those who obey all the commandments in all their holiness will be able to enter the kingdom of God, yet it is also true that those commandments have been brought so close to mankind that all may truly and fully obey them. "For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?" Deut. 30:11-13. The Lord Jesus, who has been given to the world in the plan of salvation, brings to us the pure and holy law of God, and in Him the least and weakest may do all that is required. It is only a falsehood of the enemy that it is impossible for men and women to do right. And to believe that falsehood would be to make God a tyrant who has held out a hope that we can never realize.
No, young friends, God is too good and too wise to mislead. The desire to be right, planted in every human heart, shows that the kingdom of God is not far away. Heaven is close to the human family. The Lord Jesus has demonstrated that it is possible for man to do right under the greatest difficulties, and with the whole world in opposition. He came and took sinful flesh with all its weaknesses and liabilities, "that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us."
The call of God to each soul to enter the kingdom of heaven is a promise in itself to do all that is needful to cause him to reach that place. When Jesus bade Peter, "Come," there was power in that simple word to enable the disciple to walk upon the water to Jesus' side. Matt. 14:29. Over and over again, it is shown in the Scriptures that simple belief in God's word has strengthened man to do that which is naturally impossible. In fact, the whole Bible is a story of miracle power, that men and women, youth and children, may be encouraged to trust God to do the impossible for them.
Why, then, should not every one allow God to do for him what must be done? Why should not each one who reads these words let the desire to become righteous move him to devote himself to God and to do so now? If God be true, and His word sure, why not accept His promise at this hour? Is it treating God's invitation justly to delay this matter longer?
O, dear friend, remember that this is not a question of your ability "to hold out," but rather of God's ability. He is almighty, and so does "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Take the first step in the direction of the Lord Jesus as He is revealed in His Word, and at once you will begin to understand the blessedness of His promise. You will at once find yourself bound to Him.
To-day He calls upon you to yield to Him. Why not do it?