To be near unto God - pagina 178

moments in his life when he had to confess: "What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, (Rom. 7:15). This is an honest conwhich age upon age has been shamefully abused, that under the cloak of piety one might continue in sin and keep the conscience quiet. An abuse which shall be judged of God. But apart from this abuse the language of St. Paul is the honest description of actual life, which declares that the ideal always stands above us, and that we always have to mourn our inability to reach it, and to make 't actual in life. There is willingness of heart, and an effort to realize it in life. This willingness of heart is for the most part free. He who restrains evil tendencies and conforms his will to the will of God, fosters an holy aim. This involves conflict, but only in connection with the remnant of the old that I do" fession,

is in us. As long as we stand aloof and take council with our heart, a child of God will inwardly triumph, and finally he will come to will only what God wills, and

nature that

from

life,

find happiness in this the will of God.

harmony

Now, however,

of his will with

follows a still greater difficulty. that is: to carry into effect what we will at heart, against the world, the flesh and the Devil. In connection with this it continually happens that with the best will of the heart we meet with stubborn resistance; that we find no power in ourselves to cope with it; and that in the end we leave undone what we honestly meant to do and This tempts us all too often still want to do. to underestimate this inner willingness of heart. What is the good, we ask, whether we foster the

And

174

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen