JULY 18

WHAT SHALL I DO?

“And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? – if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. – if thou wilt be perfect…come and follow Me.” (Matt. 19:16-17,21)

The yearnings of the “hidden man of the heart,” (1Pet, 3:4) to progress into the heights and depths of the reality in god, often bring us to the on-going question, “What shall I do?” Man’s responsibility as versus God’s responsibility has produced myriads of works and standards from man’s endeavors, or else the pendulum swings far to the other extreme of a carnal, passive attitude of “it’s all God and grace” and I am not responsible. But there is a balance, a daily out-living of His inworking. “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” (John 6:28-29).

So I’m knowing that I’m growing
When the truth becomes a-showing
Of the way that leadeth upward to the throne.
How our spirits now are yearning,
And the inner fires burning,
As the Father separates us for His own.
Drawn away from earthly pleasures,
And the things that self would treasure,
Till we find our life is hid in Christ alone.

In the life He has imparted
Are the paths as yet uncharted,
And the going is unfolded by His grace.
Let the doing be the living
Of the life that He is giving,
Till at last in glory we behold His face.
For the message that we’re seeing
Is that doing comes from being,
As in Him we occupy in our own place.

Thus we turn from fleshly striving
With its nervous forces driving,
That we now might rest in Him, in love divine.