Apart from Him, God, if recognised at all, is for the most part thought
of as 'austere, reaping where He did not sow,' and His commandments as
grievous. Men may sullenly recognise that they cannot resist, but they
do not submit. They may obey in act, but there is no obedience in their
wills, nor any cheerfulness in their hearts. The elder brother in the
parable could say, 'Neither transgressed I at any time thy
commandment,' but his service had been joyless, and he never remembered
having received gifts that made him 'merry with his friends.'
But from all such slavish, and therefore worthless, obedience, and all
such reluctant, and therefore unreal, submission, Jesus liberates those
who believe on Him and abide in His word. He declares God as our loving
Father, and through Him we have authority to become sons of God. He
'sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,' and that makes us
to be no more slaves but sons. Sullen obedience becomes glad choice,
and it is the inmost desire, and the deepest delight, of the loving
child to do always the things that please the loving Father. 'I ought'
and 'I will' coalesce, and so there is no slavery, but perfect freedom,
in recognising and bowing to the great 'I must' which sweetly rules the
life.