Impelled not Compelled

God has been teaching me the importance of living a life impelled by the Word of God dwelling in me. Today I saw that teaching again in the parable of the ant in Proverbs 6:6-8,

Go to the ant, O sluggard;
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.

The ant lives an impelled, not compelled, life. The force in life steering the ant's behavior comes from the nature of the life in the ant (impelled) and not from some outside force (compelled). The ant has no chief, officer, or ruler to compel it to behave a certain way. It behaves the way it does because of the nature of the life within it.

God's Word dwelling in our hearts works in us to will and to do God's will: to impel us to do God's will. The nature of the life in the Word impels us to act in a way that produces the fruit of that life for the benefit of ourselves and those around us.

Of course, there is an alternative. If we allow the seed of corrupt desires to dwell in our hearts, it impels to act in a way that produces destruction and death to ourselves and those around us.

Romans 7:15 describes the person who is impelled by the nature of sin dwelling within them.

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

All have allowed some corrupt seed to conceive and dwell in their hearts. Jesus said that we can command the corrupt tree that has grown from that seed to be plucked up by the roots and cast into the sea and it will obey us.

If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. (Luke 17:6)

We will be impelled by the nature of the life of the seed we sow. God's seed to life. Satan's seed to death.