WILL
OF GOD; OPPOSITION; SELF-DENIAL

Few sights are more depressing than that of a professed Christian defending his or her supposed rights and bitterly resisting any attempt to violate them. Such a Christian has never accepted the way of the cross.…

The only cure for this sort of thing is to die to self and rise with Christ into newness of life. The man or woman who sets the will of God as his or her goal will reach that goal not by self-defense but by self-abnegation. Then no matter what sort of treatment that person receives from other people, he or she will be altogether at peace. The will of God has been done—this Christian does not care whether it comes with curses or compliments, for he or she does not seek one or the other, but wants to do the will of God at any cost. Then, whether riding the crest of public favor or wallowing in the depths of obscurity, he or she will be content. If there be some who take pleasure in holding this Christian down, still he or she will not resent them, for he or she seeks not advancement but the will of God.

Isaiah 53:7; Romans 6:4–7; 1 Peter 5:5

This World: Playground or Battleground?, 92.