In need of steadfast endurance

Heb. 10.36: Ye have need of patience [steadfast endurance], that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

This verse made me think of how continually our Lord makes obedience the test of love: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." (John 14.21) I was thinking, too of how each act of obedience opens a window in Heaven, and light pours through upon the soul that obeys, and it walks on in that Heavenly light; whereas, just as certainly, the least disobedience shuts the window. No more light can come through. Then I came on this verse in Hebrews, which makes patience the link between obedience and receiving in their fulness the promises of God.

How does this bear upon our life to-day? Well, first I think that obedience is taken for granted (a disobedient child is not even contemplated). Can God take my obedience for granted? If He cannot, there can be only one reason: "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me." If I disobey, it must be because I love someone else more. Who? But if that point has been passed, and the soul loves its Lord better than itself, and some word of His has been obeyed, or some urging in prayer yielded to, then may come the need of steadfast endurance. I think it often does. Lord, give to us all to obey and to endure, that even we may receive, for the enriching of our lives, Thy "exceeding great and precious promises." (2 Pet. 1.4)--from Edges of His Ways, by Amy Carmichael