Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Joy of Serving

These words by Hannah Whitall Smith (1832-1911) in Devotional Classics (Foster & Smith) caught my attention this evening:

"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 saying, instead of the “May I?” of love, the “Must I?” of duty."

"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."


Excerpts from The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life

Selah.

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