Hannah’s Secret, Chapter Two

Our job is to trust, and God’s part is to work.

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If we are to be delivered from the grip of sin, if it really is God’s plan to give us “everything good for doing his will” and to “work in us what is pleasing to him,”[1] then we need to be transformed, and we certainly can’t transform ourselves.

Most of us have tried to make ourselves holy and have failed miserably. But God will do it if we put ourselves into his hands and trust him without reserve. When we trust, the Lord works, and a great deal is done, not by us, but by him. He disciplines and trains us by inward exercises and outward circumstances. He makes everything in our lives submit to his purpose of making us, day by day, into the image of Christ.

Sanctification, being made holy and set apart for God, is a matter of surrender and trust on our part, and a process of development on God’s part.[2] We must each become as a lump of clay in the hands of the Divine Potter, consciously surrendering to him and continually trusting him. Expect him to change you, making you into a vessel that honors him and is prepared for his purposes. 

His way of accomplishing what we have entrusted to him may be vastly different from the way we have in mind, but he knows best. We must trust him to use us and our circumstances. Otherwise, we will be as clay taken out of the hands of the Potter, wondering, even as we refuse his workings, why we are not complete and perfect vessels.

His pace may not be as swift as we would choose. Maturity is never reached in a moment but is the result of God’s Holy Spirit working within us. A lump of clay, from the moment it comes under the transforming hand of the potter, is just what the potter wants it to be at any particular time during each hour of the process. Even in a state of incompletion, it pleases him; but it is very far from being matured into the vessel the potter intends to make it at last. We have to be patient.

Ask the Lord to work in you in whatever way he chooses. Then, by an exercise of faith, continue to surrender to him, following immediately any direction you know is from him. When we do that, we are pleasing God simply by our trust and submission. God has given us the gift of free will. Therefore, his work in us depends upon our choosing to submit to him. Still, we must understand clearly that it is God’s working within us, not our own work from our own determination, that is the cause of all I will cover in this book.

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[1] Hebrews 13:21

[2] “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and will do it.”  I Thessalonians 5:23-24

Hannah’s Happiness Coming Your Way

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Hannah Whitall Smith wrote about living with deep joy regardless of circumstances. Over the next six weeks, I will post part of her most famous book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, but in a modernized and highly condensed version. Each chapter is based on these truths:

• God loves us.
• Our sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ.
• God gives us eternal life through his Son.
• The Bible is God’s word, every bit of it true and reliable.

And here is Chapter 1: You don’t have to sin.

A keen observer once said to me, “You can’t expect outsiders to want anything as uncomfortable as the Christian life appears to be.” Sadly, the Christian life, as it is often lived, looks rather miserable. Following Christ ought to be something that makes people happy!

Can you remember the exquisite joy you experienced when you first came to know the Lord and his mighty saving power? Has your day to day experience been something altogether different? Perhaps you have rejoiced in your knowledge of the truth without having let those truths impact your daily life. This is not what Jesus had in mind when he died for you! He did not mean for you to live a life of discouragement, forever bound up in a variety of sins. Consider these verses:

• “It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Titus 2:12).

• “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:4).

• “We should no longer be slaves to sin” (Romans 6:6).

Jesus came to save you, now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin. If you doubt this, search your Bible, and study every verse concerning the purpose and object of his death on the cross. Far more mention is made of a present salvation from sin than of a future salvation in heaven beyond. His death and resurrection deliver us from our sins, from our bondage, from our defilement. Not a hint is given, anywhere, that this deliverance is to be limited or partial or delayed until after our death.

Would God arrange a plan of salvation that makes it impossible for those who are saved from the guilt of sin to find deliverance from its power? Surely not. Rather, the redemption accomplished for us by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary is a complete redemption from the power of sin as well as from its guilt.We must throw away the Bible if we say that it is impossible for God to deliver man out of sin. Prayerfully search the scriptures to see this truth for yourself.[1]

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I do not believe Hannah was saying that she, or anyone else except Christ, was sinless. She was, however, challenging the thought that we must live life controlled by sin. These are controversial words. I welcome your comments!

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[1] “…be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:11b),

“God did not call us to be impure, but to life a holy life” (I Thessalonians 4:7).

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin” (I John 3:9a),

Emancipation

Hannah Smith taught me about trust, writing:

“We have trusted the Lord in a few things, and he hasn’t failed us. We can trust him now in all things, and see if he doesn’t do far above all we could ever ask or even think, not by our own ability, but by his own mighty power. It isn’t difficult for us to trust the management of the universe and of all creation to the Lord. Can the particular needs of our lives be so much more complex?”

When the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, making slaves legally free, true freedom lagged behind. No slaves experienced that freedom until they heard about it, came to believe it, and acted on it. The fact alone of freedom was not enough.

We’ve been given emancipation from fear. But that fact is not enough. We must come to believe it, to act on it. It’s time to put our total confidence in the Lord who loves us, to start living moment by moment with total and childlike trust in him.

Trust is a choice. When we make faith an active effort, a willful determination, eventually it becomes a natural habit. Each act of trusting makes the next one easier.

Matthew 17:20 quotes Christ as saying, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” As believers, we have at least as much faith as a tiny grain of mustard. And so, let each of us say, “I can trust my Lord, and I will trust him!”

When we trust God completely, we give him glory and we receive peace. Even in times of hardship, we can rest on the incontrovertible fact that our Lord is in control. When those times come, be patient, wait, trust, and remain free.  

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So, What’s the Secret?

For years, every time I heard a siren, I wondered if someone I loved had just died. “Wondered” doesn’t really cover it, either. Often, regardless of what was right in front of me—a laughing child, perhaps, or a beautiful view, or a friend who needed my attention—I dove unwittingly into an imaginary tragedy, my consciousness hijacked and sent on a wild mental goose chase. What if my husband was injured or dead? How would I ever be happy without him? Could our children cope with such a loss?

A new spot on my face distracted me for long moments as I pictured battling the same cancer that nearly took my father’s life. What if I had to face radiation, or chemo, or a surgery that left me disfigured? And as for things that go bump in the night, I couldn’t climb into bed alone without wondering if an intruder might creep into my room.

What if? What if? Those questions dropped into my mind and planted themselves there, growing into long, sad stories. They pulled me into a false world filled with heartache and trouble. Fear of the unknown and the unreal robbed me of joy in the present moment. I began to pray that God would make me fearless—and now, for the most part, I am.

What happened?

Eeyore

We’re living in a weird world, aren’t we? Most days, I’ve become accustomed to morning news that sounds like a science fiction movie, and days that run along a different pattern than this time last year. I manage to remember that God is still on his throne. But I’m a little down today. ‘No real reason that I can identify.  Steve (unintentionally) woke me up in the middle of the night, but that’s not particularly unusual, and I did go back to sleep. It’s cloudy, but clouds are a welcome gift in Austin’s summer heat. I could point to a few “first world problems” needling me, but even those usually fade into the background of my blessings.

So what’s wrong?

I think, as I type and analyze, that what’s most wrong is that I want to figure it all out. Why do we do that? Life would be smoother if, when it comes to short-term blues, we would tell ourselves, “Hey, this too will pass. Praise the Lord anyway and wait it out.”

Now, I’m not talking about grief or true depression or times in our lives when we have to face real trouble head-on. Those time call for introspection and, more often than not, the help of others. But, for today, I think I need to lean into Hannah Whitall Smith’s teaching about faith, facts, and feelings. While you can read a longer version here, I’ll give you the “CliffsNotes” version now:

I have faith in the Lord God Almighty.

It’s a fact that he loves me, is in charge, and provides all sorts of advice in the Bible about how to handle sadness.

My feelings are unreliable, and can fluctuate for any number of reasons, some of which I’ll never figure out.

So, today I’ll cut myself some slack. I won’t keep trying to “fix” this Eeyore day. I’ll praise God without the emotion I’d like to be experiencing. And, hopefully, I’ll manage to stay nice to those around me. (Whatever is the opposite of rose-tinting, that’s the sort of glasses I might be seeing the world through today. Thus, it’s probably best to keep my mouth shut if I see something or someone out of order.)

And tomorrow, odds are, I’ll be me again, and particularly thankful that the sun has come back out within me.

Have you been there? Are you there now? Join Hannah and me in taking a deep breath and remembering the truth. You will get through this, probably sooner than you think.

(And, for those dear friends who are about to pick up the phone and check on me, while I’d love to hear from you, please bear in mind that I rarely write on the same day that I post. When you call, hopefully I will have all sorts of cheery things to say!)

Psalm 43:5 is perfect for this issue: Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Photo by tatianaDm via pixabay.

 

 

 

 

Judgement Free Zone

I joined a group of women for coffee this morning. We were there to share our lives, our needs, our gifts and our prayers. The woman who brought us together had posted a sign on the wall that read “Judgement Free Zone.” (And one that said, “’Fix-It’ Free Zone” too, but that will have to wait for another day.)

Do you ever feel like the Lord is poking on you? Well, that sign was one more way he used to tell me I need to work on my awful tendency toward judgement. All of life should be a judgement free zone! Still, I struggle to ignore those nitpicky little notions that pop into my head when I see someone doing life wrong (aka not MY way). I’d like to share a few quotes that help me steer clear of judgmental muck and mire. Actually, the first should be enough for us all.

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Jesus in Matthew 7:1-2).

“Give people room to be human.” (Joel Osteen)

“Carry a shield. And treat others as if they don’t.” (Rachelle Gardner)

Carry a shield? Yes, indeed! Since, sadly, we don’t live in a judgement free world, we’ve all got to be wary of allowing the judgment of others to wound us or, worse yet, to dissuade us from following the path we believe the Lord has laid out for us. While we are surely called to serve one another, we aren’t necessarily called to please one another.

Truth be told, though, the person on whom I often exact the toughest judgement is myself. I read these wise words a few nights ago:

“Speak to yourself the way you would speak to someone you love.”

And how do we handle our fiery self-judgement when we’ve absolutely made a wrong choice? Here’s what my pastor says:

“Religion says, ‘I messed up. My dad is gonna kill me.’ The Gospel says, ‘I messed up. I need to call my dad.’”  (Ky Faciane)

Anytime we make the mistake of judging ourselves harshly, the best and only answer is to go back to our Lord, confident that he still loves us and can cover all our misdeeds. ‘Same goes for the misdeeds we see going on in other people’s lives. We can and ought to pray. Sometimes we may be called to counsel. But I’m ready to start building more judgement free zones. Join me, won’t you?!?