Invitation
277
in proportion to the impartation of the Holy Spirit. Trust in God brings
holier qualities of mind, so that in patience we may possess our souls.
The yoke is placed upon the oxen to aid them in drawing the load,
to lighten the burden. So with the yoke of Christ. When our will is
swallowed up in the will of God, and we use His gifts to bless others,
we shall find life’s burden light. He who walks in the way of God’s
commandments is walking in company with Christ, and in His love the
heart is at rest. When Moses prayed, “Show me now Thy way, that I
may know Thee,” the Lord answered him, “My presence shall go with
thee, and I will give thee rest.” And through the prophets the message
was given, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and
ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for your souls.”
Exodus 33:13, 14
;
Jeremiah 6:16
. And
He says, “O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then
had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of
the sea.”
Isaiah 48:18
.
Those who take Christ at His word, and surrender their souls to
His keeping, their lives to His ordering, will find peace and quietude.
Nothing of the world can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad
by His presence. In perfect acquiescence there is perfect rest. The
Lord says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed
on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.”
Isaiah 26:3
. Our lives may seem
a tangle; but as we commit ourselves to the wise Master Worker, He
will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own
glory. And that character which expresses the glory—character—of
Christ will be received into the Paradise of God. A renovated race
shall walk with Him in white, for they are worthy.
As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We
respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming
we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God
through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more
and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of
God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus
in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence.
All that human nature can bear, we may receive here. But what is this
[332]
compared with the hereafter? There “are they before the throne of
God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more,