A needed message

Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911), a Philadelphian Quaker, wrote an intriguing little book called, The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. Richard Foster says about the book, it "continues to inspire men and women to a more joyful life with Christ." I can think of a few other contemporary books that are written to inspire people to a joyful Christian life; however, there is something qualitatively different between Smith and other modern writers such as those writing from a certain mega-church in Texas.

Part of the focus of Smith's book, from the excerpts I have read, is to find the joy that is to be had through acts of service. And she makes several good points as to how that is done.

One Christian recounted the struggle that it is to continue daily service. At first it was a joy to serve, and zeal was abundant; but eventually the excitement faded, and service became work and burdensome. "Have you never gone to work as a slave to his daily task," Smith writes, "but rebounding like an Indian-rubber ball back into your real interests and pleaseures the moment your work was over?"

We tend to love the idea of Christian service, at least in the abstract. But I have found that when the rubber meets the road reality strikes, and all of the sudden service feels like work. Smith points out that when it comes to serving others we too quickly focus on the hardship we might be enduring, but when it comes to our own interests we have all the zeal needed to conquer any obstacle. What's wrong with that?

In the movie The Great Debaters, there is a phrase taught to a Christian boy by his father: "We do what we have to do so that we can do what we want to do." This is good advice when teaching a child to do his or her homework. However, for the Christian servant this can be detrimental. If Christian service is something that we must do in order to do what we want to do, then we've got it all wrong!

Service is not done out of obligation.

These are hard words, but I cannot put them any better than Hannah Whitall Smith put them herself. "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 person 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."

If acts of service can become consistently what we wish to do, then we will have discovered what it is so "serve one another in love." When we can say to God, as Jesus did, "not my will but thine," only then will we recover the joy of Christian service.

"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
-Matthew 20:26-28