I will realize that God expects only one thing of me—obedience. This obedience must be prompt and entire. I must leave no “bleating sheep” around. I must not try to develop faith, love, or hope, for these things are elements of obedience. Nor must I try to develop spiritual power, for this is the result of obedience. Obedience is my concern; the results of obedience are God’s concern. Obedience is God’s way of testing my discipleship; therefore, God’s commands may sometimes seem strange to the natural mind. I must obey God’s commands as literally as possible; there can be no “spiritualizing away” what God tells me to do.
I will accept Christ as my life as well as my Savior. He is the way, indeed, but He is also the way-shower. He shows me the life that pleases the Father, and thus I can avoid the mistakes of the opposite kind of life. He died for my sins, but this was only to make way for the goal He has for me—His life in me. It is life, not death, that God is interested in. Whenever death occurs it is only a means to an end, and the only life that pleases the Father is that which the Son exhibited on this earth. Being “saved by His life” (Romans 5:10) is literally and necessarily true. Christ’s life is the absolute antithesis of the self-life. As I lift up my life to Christ’s, I can immediately see my raggedness against His perfection.
Then there must be confession of sin and surrender to that life. Then I please the Father also. “Christ who is my life” is more than a motto, a catchword. It is a glorious reality, for Christ makes me more alive than any other person can. And the life He gives me carries me forward with its inborn drive to glory (Colossians 1:27).
“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
Daily with the King 