The test is obedience. In proportion as we keep the Lord's Word, in like proportion the love of God is perfected in us; for if we have received the mind of Christ, the holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the effect will be to cause us both to will and do His good pleasure—to the extent of our ability. And this ability should be continually on the increase year by year. And although we may not hope to be perfected until we shall be raised and be granted our new resurrection bodies, nevertheless all the while we may keep so closely in touch with the Lord in the spirit of our minds that we may have continual fellowship with Him (1 John 1:7).
To keep God's Word is to hold by the new will the Word upon the affections until the affections respond to the Spirit of the Word. To continue in this process perseveringly amid all the circumstances of life will inevitably develop unto perfection in our hearts the Divine love, which consists in supreme love to the Father, a love next to supreme love to the Son, a love to the brethren more than to self, and a love equal to that for self to the world and to our enemies.
John 14:15, 16, 21, 23; Gen. 18:19; Ex. 19:5; 20:6; 24:7; Num. 9:23; 14:24; 1 Kings 3:14; Psa. 18:44; 25:10; 111:10; 143:10; Prov. 19:16; Matt. 5:19; 12:50; 13:23; Luke 6:46-48; John 15:10, 14, 16; Acts 4:19; 5:29; Rom. 6:17; 1 John 3:22, 24; 2 John 1:6, 9; Rev. 12:17.
