December 3
Read: I Thessalonians 4:1-8
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification (I Thessalonians 4:3).
The Will Of God
“How few people are aware that God actually did make a will! The will He made in the interest of man is, in the finest sense, as real, as bona fide, as any will ever probated in any court of man. And the specific intent of this will is clear and unmistakable. God has made absolutely clear His design for man. Its intent is so clear and its purpose so explicit that the figure of a documentary human will can be consistently used to reveal His purpose.
“God actually wills to man His own personal holiness. It is His clear purpose that through the redemptive scheme man may once more be restored to the moral image given him in the beginning. And the significance of it all is that it is a restoration, not for another age or dispensation, but for men in this present day.
“One cannot read the setting of this Thessalonian letter without seeing the implied tense. It is God’s purpose that we may now enjoy the blessings of redemptive purpose. It is now that we may possess the basic benefits of His will conceived before the foundation of the world. It is God’s will that we should now be the recipients of the provisions of His will.
“And, after all, what can surpass the value and worth of holy character?… It is the greatest bestowment God could possibly make to men. And this is the unmistakable intent of His will.” -
- V. Miller (His Will For Us). Prayer For Today
O God, because Thou hast loved me, Thou hast willed that I should be holy. Because I love Thee, I gladly accept Thy purpose for my life. “Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.”* — Adelaide A. Pollard
*Copyright By permission Hope Publishing Co.