For many of the bride of Christ, following after the vision she has been given by her bridegroom and focusing on His perfect will have become “hard work.” It has become a battle of “do” and “don’t do” that is further complicated by the world around her. The world pulls and pushes with condemnation while the Holy Spirit calls gently calls with conviction. We understand that but in large part we seem to find ourselves between the two, first sliding one way and then the other. Isn’t there a way out of this conundrum?

I’m not a big J.R.R. Tolkien fan, but I ran across this quote from The Hobbit and it got me to thinking about the answer to this dilemma. Translating from”Elvish” you get… Loyalty, honor, and a willing heart, I can ask for no more than that. Elvish aside, it was the third element in that statement that caught my eye… a willing heart.

As I began to think about that, the answer came into clear focus. What God wants from us is first and foremost a willing heart… not a willing mind or body. And if you think about it, the last part of that statement also rings with truth… I can ask no more than that. It’s our willing heart that steps up in faith and accepts Jesus’ offer of salvation. It takes the submission of our “will” in order to transfer our “loyalty” from ourselves to Jesus… to cease “honoring ourselves” and to “honor” Him. That’s the first step of faith, without which nothing else matters. But it doesn’t stop there… the need for our willing heart that is.

The whole process of sanctification is focused on the goal of achieving spiritual maturity, but that is impossible without our willing heart submitted in faith to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have to make the choice to leave our old nature behind, we have to be “willing” to press on in the face of everything around us that is attempting to thwart our progress. And most importantly, we have to stop listening to that voice in our head that wants to compromise!

Prov 3:5-7 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.

Albert Barnes’ take on these verses hit the nail on the head: In preaching “trust in God” the moralist anticipates the teaching that man is justified by faith. To confide in God’s will, the secret of all true greatness, is to rise out of all our anxieties and plans and fears when we think of ourselves as the arbiters of our own fortunes, and so “lean to our own understanding.” 

When we look to ourselves for all the answers, for the way to spiritual maturity, we immediately shut out the only One who has all the answers. He has them but if we aren’t asking He won’t deliver them. He is the One who knows the right way to the right end, to what will benefit us, and He is able to deliver us. The question is, will we allow Him to accomplish that?

Isa 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

If we don’t put all of our faith in Him, if we don’t approach Him with all our heart, all our efforts are destined to fail. God looks at our heart as the seat of all our spiritual strength, but if our heart isn’t “willingly” submitted to Him, and we are relying on our fleshly strength, we are destined to come up short every time we try.  Listen to Matthew Henry:

We must believe that he is able to do what he will, wise to do what is best, and good, according to his promise, to do what is best for us, if we love him, and serve him. We must, with an entire submission and satisfaction, depend upon him to perform all things for us, and not lean to our own understanding, as if we could, by any forecast of our own, without God, help ourselves, and bring our affairs to a good issue.

Do we truly love Him and do we do that with a truly willing heart? It all comes to an issue of the heart doesn’t it. Is the heart willingly submitted or is it holding back? Are we inserting ourselves into the equation in an attempt to hold onto our own understanding and desires? If we are, we’re destined to fail in our efforts. On the other hand, if we submit to Him with a willing heart and faithfully follow the leading of His Spirit in the face of all outside opposition, He will be faithful to direct our paths. And remember, those paths are all designed to lead us into transforming into His image, conforming our life into that of a spiritually mature member of His bride. Once again Matthew Henry: Those that put themselves under a divine guidance shall always have the benefit of it. God will give them that wisdom which is profitable to direct, so that they shall not turn aside into the by-paths of sin, and then will himself so wisely order the event that it shall be to their mind, or (which is equivalent) for their good. Those that faithfully follow the pillar of cloud and fire shall find that though it may lead them about it leads them the right way and will bring them to Canaan at last.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Reasonable service? Yes! But without a willing heart, the presenting of our body as a living sacrifice just results in the faithless works that God hates. We’re just going through the motions out of some misguided legal mandate, trying to accomplish something that only God can do.

After lamenting that there are a few warriors amongst us, Thorin Oakenshield put it all in perspective… I would take each and every one of these Dwarves over an army from the Iron Hills. For when I called upon them, they answered. Loyalty. Honor. A willing heart… I can ask no more than that.We are in a battle every day of our life here on earth, a spiritual battle that is all about distracting us and keeping us from completing our mission of being prepared to meet our bridegroom. Sadly, there are far too few true warriors for Christ that are diligently seeking after Him with a willing heart.

Time is growing short and each of us needs to set our selfish nature aside and answer the call of the Holy Spirit … Loyalty. Honor. A willing heart. He truly is… Asking no more than that. He is prepared to do all the rest.

Is your heart willing?