"It is altogether the way we look at things, whether we think they are crosses or not. And 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 as Christians is to want to do God's will as much as we want to do our own. And this is the idea of the Gospel. It is what God intended for us; and it is what He promised. In describing the new covenant in Hebrews 8: 6-13, He says it shall no more be the old covenant made on Sinai, that is, a law given from the outside, controlling a man by force, but it shall be a law written within, constraining us by love.
'I will put my laws,' He says, 'into their minds, and write them on their hearts.' This can mean nothing but that we shall love His law; for anything written in our hearts we will love. 'And putting it into our minds' is surely the same as God working in us to 'will and to do of His good pleasure.' and means that we shall will what God wills, and shall obey His sweet commands, not because it is our duty to do so, but because we ourselves want to do what He wants us to do."
~Hannah Whitall Smith
What we need as Christians is to want to do God's will as much as we want to do our own. And this is the idea of the Gospel. It is what God intended for us; and it is what He promised. In describing the new covenant in Hebrews 8: 6-13, He says it shall no more be the old covenant made on Sinai, that is, a law given from the outside, controlling a man by force, but it shall be a law written within, constraining us by love.
'I will put my laws,' He says, 'into their minds, and write them on their hearts.' This can mean nothing but that we shall love His law; for anything written in our hearts we will love. 'And putting it into our minds' is surely the same as God working in us to 'will and to do of His good pleasure.' and means that we shall will what God wills, and shall obey His sweet commands, not because it is our duty to do so, but because we ourselves want to do what He wants us to do."
~Hannah Whitall Smith
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