The Christian's Secret to a Happy Life

THE CHRISTIAN SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE by HANNAH WHITEALL SMITH Chapter 15 SERVICE There is, perhaps, no part of Christian experience where a greater change is known upon entering into this life with Christ in God than in the matter of service. In all the ordinary forms of Christian life, service is apt to have more or less of bondage in it. That is, it is done purely as a matter of duty, and often as a trial and a cross. Certain things, which at first may have been a joy and a delight, become after a while weary tasks, performed faithfully, perhaps, but with much secret disinclination, and many confessed or unconfessed wishes that they need not be done at all, or at least that they need not be done so often. The soul finds itself sane instead of the may I of love, the must I of duty. The yoke which was at first easy, begins to gall, and the burden feels heavy instead of light. One dear Christian expressed it once to me in this way. When I was first converted, she said, I was so full of joy and love that I was only too glad and thankful to be allowed to do anything for my Lord, and I eagerly entered every open door. But after a while, as my early joy faded away, and my love burned less fervently, I began to wish I had not been quite so eager, for I found myself involved in lines of service that were gradually becoming very distasteful and burdensome to me. Since I had begun them, I could not very well give them up without exciting great remark and yet I longed to do so increasingly. I was expected to visit the sick and pray beside their beds. I was expected to attend prayer meetings and speak at them. I was expected, in short, to be always ready for every effort in Christian work, and the sense of these expectations bowed me down continually. At last it became so unspeakably burdensome to me to live the sort of Christian life I had entered upon, and was expected by all around me to live, that I felt as if any kind of manual labor would have been easier, and I would have infinitely preferred scrubbing all day on my hands and knees to being compelled to go through the treadmill of my daily Christian work. I envied, she said, the servants in the kitchen and the women at the wash-tubs. This may seem to some like a strong statement, but does it not present a vivid picture of some of your own experiences, dear Christian? Have you never gone to your work as a slave to his daily task, believing it to be your duty, and that therefore you must do it, but rebounding like an India rubber ball back into your real interests and pleasures the moment your work was over? You have known, of course, that this was the wrong way to feel, and have been thoroughly ashamed of it, but still you have seen no way to help it. You have not loved your work, and could you have done so with an easy conscience, you would have been glad to give it up altogether. Or if this does not describe your case, perhaps another picture will. You do love your work in the abstract, but in the doing of it you find so many cares and responsibilities connected with it, and feel so many misgivings and doubts as to your own capacity or fitness, that it becomes a very heavy burden, and you go to it bowed down and weary before the labor has even begun. Then also you are continually distressing yourself about the results of your work, and greatly troubled if they are not just what you would like, and this of itself is a constant burden. Now from all these forms of bondage the soul that enters fully into the blessed life of faith is entirely delivered. In the first place service of any sort becomes delightful to it, because having surrendered its will into the keeping of the Lord, he works in it to will and to do of his good pleasure, and the soul finds itself really wanting to do the things God wants it to do. It is always very pleasant to do the things we want to do, let them be ever so difficult of accomplishment, or involve ever so much of bodily weariness. If a man's will is really set on a thing, he regards with a sublime indifference the obstacles that lie in the way of his reaching it, and laughs to himself at the idea of any opposition or difficulties hindering him. How many men have gone gladly and thankfully to the ends of the world in search of worldly fortunes, or to fulfill worldly ambitions, and have scorned the thought of any cross connected with it? How many mothers have congratulated themselves and rejoiced over the honor done in their sons in seeing them promoted to some place of power and usefulness in their country's service, although it has involved perhaps years of separation and a life of hardship for their dear ones? And yet these same men and these very mothers would have felt and said that they were taking up crosses too heavy almost to be borne had the service of Christ required the same sacrifice of home and friends and worldly ease. It is altogether the way we look at things, whether we think they are crosses or not, and I am ashamed to think that any Christian should ever put on a long face and shed tears over doing a thing for Christ which a worldly man would be only too glad to do for money. What we need in the Christian life is to get believers to want to do God's will as much as other people want to do their own will. And this is the idea of the Gospel. It is what God intended for us, and it is what He has promised. In describing the new covenant in Hebrews 8, 6-13, He says it shall no more be the old covenant made on Sinai, that is, a law given from the outside, controlling a man by force, but it shall be a law written within, constraining a man by love. I will put my laws, He said, into their minds and write them in their hearts. This can mean nothing but that we shall love His law, for anything written in our hearts we must love. And putting it into our minds is surely the same as God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and means that we shall will what God wills, and shall obey His sweet commands, not because it is our duty to do so, but because we ourselves want to do what He wants us to do. Nothing could possibly be conceived more effectual than this. How often have we thought, when dealing with our children, Oh, if I could only get inside of them and make them want to do just what I want, how easy it would be to manage them then! How often in practical experience we have found that, to deal with cross-grained people, we most carefully avoid suggesting our wishes to them, but must in some way induce them to suggest the thing themselves, sure that there will then be no opposition to contend with. And we, who are by nature a stiff-necked people, always rebel more or less against a law from outside of us, while we joyfully embrace the same law springing up within. God's way of working, therefore, is to get possession of the inside of a man, to take control and management of his will, and to work it for him. Then obedience is easy, and a delight, and service becomes perfect freedom, until the Christian is forced to exclaim, This happy service! Who could dream earth had such liberty? What you need to do then, dear Christian, if you are in bondage in the matter of service, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say Yes, Lord, Yes, to everything, and trust Him so to work in you to will as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. I have seen this done often in cases where it looked beforehand an utterly impossible thing. In one case, where a lady had been for years rebelling fearfully against a little act of service which she knew was right, but which she hated, I saw her, out of the depths of her despair, and without any feeling whatever, give her will in that matter up into the hands of her Lord, and begin to say to Him, Thy will be done, Thy will be done. And in one short hour that very thing began to look sweet and precious to her. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one, and makes us love to do the thing we before so hated. While we rebel against the yoke, and try to avoid it, we find it hard and galling. But when we take the yoke upon us with a consenting will, we find it easy and comfortable. It is said of Ephraim that at one time he was like a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, but that afterwards, when he had submitted to the yoke, he was as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn. Many Christians, as I have said, love God's will in the abstract, but carry great burdens in connection with it. From this also there is deliverance in the wonderful life of faith. For in this life no burdens are carried, no anxieties felt. The Lord is our burden-bearer, and upon Him we must lay off every care. He says, in effect, Be careful for nothing, but make your requests known to Me, and I will attend to them all. Be careful for nothing, He says, not even your service. Above all I should thank our service, because we know ourselves to be so utterly helpless in regard to it, that, even if we were careful, it would not amount to anything. What have we to do with thinking whether we are fit or not? The master workman surely has a right to use any tool he pleases for his own work, and it is plainly not the business of the tool to decide whether it is the right one to be used or not. He knows, and if he chooses to use us, of course we must be fit. And in truth, if we only knew it, our chief fitness is in our utter helplessness. His strength is made perfect, not in our strength, but in our weakness. Our strength is only a hindrance. I was once visiting an idiot asylum, and saw the children going through dumbbell exercises. Now we all know that it is a very difficult thing for idiots to manage their movements. They have strength enough generally, but no skill to use this strength, and as a consequence cannot do much, and in these dumbbell exercises this deficiency was very apparent. They made all sorts of awkward movements. Now and then, by a happy chance, they would make a movement in harmony with the music and the teacher's directions, but for the most part all was out of harmony. One little girl, however, I noticed, who made perfect movements. Not a jar or break disturbed the harmony of her exercises, and the reason was, not that she had more strength than the others, but that she had no strength at all. She could not so much as close her hands over the dumbbells, nor lift her arms, and the master had to stand behind her and do it all. She yielded up her members as instruments to him, and his strength was made perfect in her weakness. He knew how to go through those exercises, for he himself had planned them, and therefore when he did it, it was done right. She did nothing but yield herself up utterly into his hands, and he did it all. The yielding was her part. The responsibility was all his. It was not her skill that was needed to make harmonious movements, but only his. The question was not of her capacity, but of his. Her utter weakness was her great strength. To me this is a very striking picture of our Christian life, and it is no wonder, therefore, that Paul could say, Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Who would not glory in being so utterly weak and helpless, that the Lord Jesus Christ should find no hindrance to the perfect working of his mighty power through us and in us? Then too, if the work is his, the responsibility is his also, and we have no room left for worrying about results. Everything in reference to it is known to him, and he can manage it all. Why not leave it all with him, then, and consent to be treated like a child, and guided where to go? It is a fact that the most effectual workers I know are those who do not feel the least care or anxiety about their work, but who, committed all to their dear master, and asking him to guide them moment by moment in reference to it, trust him implicitly for each moment's needed supplies of wisdom and of strength. To look at them you would almost think, perhaps, that they were too free from care where such mighty interests are at stake. But when you have learned God's secret of trusting, and see the beauty and the power of the life that is yielded up to his working, you will cease to condemn, and will begin to wonder how any of God's workers can dare to carry the burdens or assume the responsibilities which he alone is able to bear. Some may object that the Apostle Paul spoke of the care of the churches coming upon him, but we must not fail to remember that it was the constant habit of the Apostle to roll every care off on the Lord, and thus, while full of care, to be without carefulness. There are one or two other bonds in service from which this life of trust delivers us. We find out that no one individual is responsible for all the work in the world, but only for a small share. Our duty ceases to be universal, and becomes personal and individual. The Master does not say to us, Go and do everything, but he marks out in a special path for each one of us, and gives to each one of us in a special duty. There are diversities of gifts in the kingdom of God, and these gifts are divided to every man according to his several ability. I may have five talents, or two, or only one. I may be called to do twenty things, or only one. My responsibility is simply to do that which I am called to do, and nothing more. The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, not his way only, but each separate step in that way. Many Christians make the further mistake of looking upon every act of service as of perpetual obligation. They think because it was right for them to give a tract to one person in a railway train, for instance, that therefore they are always to give tracts to everybody, and in this way they burden themselves with an impossible duty. There was a young Christian once who, because she had been sent to speak a message to one soul whom she met in a walk, supposed it was a perpetual obligation, and thought she must speak about their souls to everyone she met in her walks. This was, of course, impossible, and as a consequence she was soon in hopeless bondage about it. She became absolutely afraid to go outside of her own door, and lived in perpetual condemnation. At last she disclosed her distress to a friend who was instructed in the ways of God with his servants, and this friend told her she was making a great mistake, that the Lord had his own especial work for each especial workman, and that the servants in a well-regulated household might as well each one take it upon themselves to try to do the work of all the rest as for the Lord's servants to think they were each one under obligation to do everything. He told her just to put herself under the Lord's personal guidance as to her work, and trust him to point out to her each particular person to whom he would have her speak, assuring her that he never puts forth his own sheep without going before them and making a way for them himself. She followed this advice, and laid the burden of her work on the Lord, and the result was a happy pathway of daily guidance in which she was led in the much-blessed work for her master, and was able to do it all without a care or a burden, because he led her out and prepared the way before her. I have been very much instructed myself by thinking of the arrangements of our own households. When we appoint a servant for an especial part of the work of the household, we want him to attend to that alone, and not run all over the house trying to attend to the work of all the other servants. It would make endless confusion in any earthly household if the servants were to act in this fashion, and it makes no less confusion in the divine household. Our part in the matter of service seems to me just like making the junction between the machinery and the steam engine. The power is not in the machinery, but in the steam. Disconnected from the engine, the machinery is perfectly useless. But let the connection be made, and the machinery goes easily and without effort because of the mighty power there is behind it. Thus the Christian life, when it is the development of the divine life working within, becomes an easy and natural life. Most Christians live on a strain, because their wills are not fully in harmony with the will of God, the connection is not perfectly made at every point, and it requires an effort to move the machinery. But when once the connection is fully made, and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus can work in us with all its mighty power, we are then indeed made free from the law of sin and death, and we shall know the glorious liberty of the children of God. Another form of bondage as to service from which the life of faith delivers the soul is in reference to the after-reflections which always follow any Christian work. These after-reflections are of two sorts, either the soul congratulates itself upon its success and is lifted up, or it is distressed over its failure and is utterly cast down. One of these is sure to come, and of the two I think the former is the more to be dreaded, although the latter causes at the time the greater suffering. But in the life of trust neither will trouble us, for having committed ourselves in our work to the Lord, we shall be satisfied to leave it to Him, and shall not think about ourselves in the matter at all. Years ago I came across this sentence in an old book. Never indulge, at the close of an action, in any self-reflective acts of any kind, whether of self-congratulation or of self-despair. Forget the things that are behind the moment they are passed, leaving them with God. This has been of unspeakable value to me. When the temptation comes, as it mostly does to every worker after the performance of any service to indulge in these reflections, either of one sort or the other, I turn from them at once, and positively refuse to think about my work at all, leaving it with the Lord to overrule the mistakes, and to bless it as He chooses. I believe there would be far fewer Blue Mondays for ministers of the Gospel than there are now if they would adopt this plan, and I am sure all workers would find their work far less wearing. To sum it all up, then, what is needed for happy and effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hands and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me, and then rise from your knees and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together. If your work is a burden, it is because you are not trusting it to Him. But if you do trust it to Him, you will surely find that the yoke He puts upon you is easy, and the burden He gives you to carry is light, and, even in the midst of a life of ceaseless activity, you shall find rest to your soul. If the Divine Master only had a band of such workers as this, there is no limit to what He might do with them. Truly, one such would chase a thousand, and two would put ten thousand to flight, and nothing would be impossible to them. For it is nothing with the Lord to help, whether with many or with them that have no power, if only He can find instruments that are fully abandoned to His working. May God raise up such an army speedily, and may you, my dear reader, enroll your name among this band, and, yielding yourself unto God as one who is alive from the dead, may every one of your members be also yielded unto Him as instruments of righteousness, to be used by Him as He pleases.