From The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life by Hannah Whitall Smith*, orignally written in 1875. I am reading from the reprinted 2012 Spire edition. *Amazon affiliate link. See Disclosure/Policies.
"And your hearts have sunk within you, as, day after day, and year after year, your early visions of triumph have seemed to grow more and more dim, and you have been forced to settle down to the conviction, that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of alternate failure and victory, one hour sinning, and the next repenting, and then beginning again, only to fail again, and again to repent.
But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in his mind when He laid down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bondage to sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? Did He intend to leave you thus struggling under a weary consciousness of defeat and discouragement? Did He fear that a continuous victory would dishonor Him, and bring reproach on His name? [She continues with many a question that I am certain many Christians have considered.]
In the very outset, then, settle down on this one thing, that Jesus came to save you now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin, and to make you more than conquerors through his power. If you doubt this, search your Bible, and collect together every announcement or declaration concerning the purposes and object of His death on the cross. You will be astonished to find how full they are. Everywhere and always, His work is said to be to deliver us from our sins, from our bondage, from our defilement; and not a hint is given, anywhere, that this deliverance was to be only the limited and partial one with which Christians so continually try to be satisfied." p. 13-14
Are we still sinners? Indeed. Paul says that we are carnal and therefore we have times where we do carnal things. But the reassurance that we are accepted by God by grace, not by ourselves doing something or not, is found throughout the Bible {to my mind it is most clear in the New Testament}. To dwell on our sins is to reject the forgiveness we have. Do we still sin? Unfortunately, yes. But God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us when we seek Him- when we confess and repent {1 John 1:9}. No need to dwell on the fact that we might sin at some point. There is no need to dwell on the fact that we have sinned. What we dwell on is that we are made a new creature and given new life. That is what we should dwell on.
God's salvation to us is complete.
"And your hearts have sunk within you, as, day after day, and year after year, your early visions of triumph have seemed to grow more and more dim, and you have been forced to settle down to the conviction, that the best you can expect from your religion is a life of alternate failure and victory, one hour sinning, and the next repenting, and then beginning again, only to fail again, and again to repent.
But is this all? Had the Lord Jesus only this in his mind when He laid down His precious life to deliver you from your sore and cruel bondage to sin? Did He propose to Himself only this partial deliverance? Did He intend to leave you thus struggling under a weary consciousness of defeat and discouragement? Did He fear that a continuous victory would dishonor Him, and bring reproach on His name? [She continues with many a question that I am certain many Christians have considered.]
In the very outset, then, settle down on this one thing, that Jesus came to save you now, in this life, from the power and dominion of sin, and to make you more than conquerors through his power. If you doubt this, search your Bible, and collect together every announcement or declaration concerning the purposes and object of His death on the cross. You will be astonished to find how full they are. Everywhere and always, His work is said to be to deliver us from our sins, from our bondage, from our defilement; and not a hint is given, anywhere, that this deliverance was to be only the limited and partial one with which Christians so continually try to be satisfied." p. 13-14
Are we still sinners? Indeed. Paul says that we are carnal and therefore we have times where we do carnal things. But the reassurance that we are accepted by God by grace, not by ourselves doing something or not, is found throughout the Bible {to my mind it is most clear in the New Testament}. To dwell on our sins is to reject the forgiveness we have. Do we still sin? Unfortunately, yes. But God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us when we seek Him- when we confess and repent {1 John 1:9}. No need to dwell on the fact that we might sin at some point. There is no need to dwell on the fact that we have sinned. What we dwell on is that we are made a new creature and given new life. That is what we should dwell on.
God's salvation to us is complete.
I read this book many years ago and it made a big impression on me as a young Christian. I bought another copy as I'd lost the original and it's on my to be read at some stage list.
ReplyDeleteMy son is reading it now through AO and my daughter read it a couple years ago. I read it some with them but am starting it over for myself. We have it on Kindle but I like it so much I purchased the paperback.
DeleteMy pastors have recently been preaching on our status as part of the New Creation and our identity in Christ who bore all our sin and shame. So much of these quotes go right along with it. Thanks for joining us!
ReplyDelete