October 19

"As the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart."—Ephesians 6:6.

LET me crave the blessed life of the Ephesian bond-slave, who did the will of God from the heart.

Here is the strenuous activity which should mark my history. I must do God's will; not simply ponder it and brood over it and meditate upon it. I must do it; not simply embrace it, and submit to it when it comes to me in the shape of a cross to carry and a loss to sustain. Jesus was always teaching, comforting, feeding, healing, and Jesus is my Pattern. Every hour I must bear fruit.

Here, also, is the heavenly ownership which should control my history. I do not live to give effect to my own will. Neither do I live to do the will of others. Whether I live, I live unto my Master; whether I die, I die unto my Master. I do the will of God. I am the servant of Jesus Christ. I am led captive by the Spirit. What a simplicity this gives my experience, binding all my duties by a golden chain! And what a blessedness, transfiguring everything with the light that never was on sea or land!

Here, moreover, is the hidden spring from which my history should proceed. My doing is not a friction or a fatigue. It is not a mechanical task, in which I take little delight. It is a matter of interest and affection; not a sigh but a psalm. It flows from the heart. I set myself to the will of God as readily as any singing-bird

"Sets him to sing his morning roundelay, Because he likes to sing and loves the song."

Happy bondslave! He walks at liberty.