Isaiah 6:1-2

Isaiah 6:1

I. The spiritual or angelic life on earth consists not only of devotion. The seraph himself, though indeed the spirit of adoration is upon him always, is not always engaged in direct acts of praise. "With twain he did fly," speed forth, like lightning, upon the errands on which God sends him. There is a deep-seated necessity for work in the constitution of our nature. One of the greatest thinkers of antiquity defined happiness to be "an energy of the soul." The reason why activity fails in numberless instances to secure happiness is that it is separated from God, that it is not in His service and interests.

II. There is a contemplative element in the service of the seraphim their activity is fed from the springs of their devotion. And so it must be with God's human servants. The activity which flows from ambition, the diligence which is purely mechanical and the result of habit, is not angelic diligence and activity. To attempt to lead the spiritual life without devotion is even a greater mistake than to go apart from our duties in order to lead it. Our flying on God's errands will be an unhallowed flight, if we do not first secretly adore Him in our hearts.

E. M. Goulburn, Thoughts on Personal Religion,p. 30.