Page 121 - That I May Know Him (1964)

Simple Faith and Unquestioning Obedience, April 20
And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake,
shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Matthew 19:29.
Many are strongly convinced of the truth, but either husband or wife
prevents their stepping out. How can one who is in fellowship with Christ’s
sufferings refuse to obey His will and do His work? ... It is by following in
the path of obedience in simple faith that the character attains perfection....
Christ has promised us sufficient power to reach this high standard. He
says, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father
may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do
it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive” (John 14:13-17).
Consider this statement a moment. Why “cannot” the world receive
the truth? “Because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him” (verse 17). The
world is leagued against the truth, because it does not desire to obey the
truth. Shall I, who perceive the truth, close my eyes and heart to its saving
power because the world chooses darkness rather than light? Shall I bind
myself up with the bundles of tares because my neighbors refuse to be
bound up with the wheat? Shall I refuse light, the evidence of truth which
leads to obedience, because my relatives and friends choose to follow in
the paths of disobedience which lead away from God? Shall I close my
mind against the knowledge of truth because my neighbors and friends will
not open their understanding to discern the truth as it is in Jesus? Shall I
refuse to grow in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ because my neighbors consent to remain dwarfs? ...
We cannot overestimate the value of simple faith and unquestioning
obedience .29 [117]
29Letter 119, 1895.
117