When Obedience Becomes a Joy

“I will cause you to walk in My statutes” — Ezekiel 36:27.

Spiritual life at its fullest flows freely and without effort. It is like the deep river in Ezekiel’s vision: the swimmer stops struggling with the water, and its irresistible current carries him along.

In this way, God leads us into spiritual attitudes and habits that become the natural impulses of our inner being. We then live and act in the fullness of the life God gives us.

Such habits, however, do not arise from a passing burst of enthusiasm. They often develop and become established slowly. Like every true habit, they begin with a definite act of the will. They are strengthened as we repeat that act, until it becomes a settled way of living.

The beginning always requires effort and choice. We must take a stand and hold to it steadily. When we have done so for some time, it becomes second nature and begins to carry us along by its own momentum.

The Holy Spirit wants to form such habits in every area of our Christian life. If we obey Him in our first steps of faith, an attitude of obedience will soon become firmly established in us, and duty will become a joy.