I finished Hannah Whitall Smith's book, "The Unselfishness of God" this morning. It was really, really good. I would definitely recommend it. At the very end of the book she says, "It is a great comfort to me, to have found out that God can manage His own universe Himself, and that He can do it even without my help." Indeed.
One thing that I found extremely interesting was that the Quakers are all about the 'inner light' and your feelings. She broke out of this by realizing that feelings are about the most changeable and fickle things there are, and it's very unwise to rely on them. She says here, "It was no longer "How do I feel?" but "What does God say?" And He said such delightful things, that to find them out became my supreme delight. I do not mean what He said to me personally in my heart, but what He had said to every human being in the Bible--the good news of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ."
She also talks about learning to rely solely on Christ for victory over sin, instead of struggling vainly against it herself. "When I call a builder to build me a house, I do so because he knows how to build, and is able to accomplish it, while I neither know how or am able. But I do not consider the fact of my putting the work in his hands an attainment on my part, but only a common sense arrangement. If I am puzzled how to cross a roaring river and discover a bridge, I do not call my action in crossing that bridge an attainment, but simply and only a common sense proceeding.
Consequently it always seems to me much nearer the truth to use the word gifts rather than the word attainments. Attainments imply work and effort on our part, and Christian graces are all a free gift from God."
So. Go read it for yourself. I'm now pretty interested in reading her other, more famous book, "The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life."
-Shaina-
