Joy in Christ is the deep, abiding gladness rooted in the believer's relationship with Jesus, transcending circumstances and worldly pleasures (John 15:11). Christian preaching often illustrates this joy as a sustaining light or sunshine that shines through trials, leading to praise and peace not found elsewhere (Romans 15:13). These images emphasize joy's unseen, divine source and its power to transform hardships into triumphs.
Choosing to see roses among thorns reflects meekness and an optimistic Christian attitude.
Benjamin Franklin once said, "The sentence which has most influenced my life is, 'Some persons grumble because God placed thorns among roses. Why not thank God because He placed roses among thorns?' I first read it when but a mere lad. Since that day it has occupied a front room in my life and has given it an optimistic trend." To be meek is to have a disposition to see the roses among the thorns, rather than to complain about the thorns among the roses. Which do you see? Your answer will help you to judge whether you possess that meekness of which our Savior spoke.
True joy in Christ comes from a hidden, unseen foundation within the believer's heart.
A certain king instructed his gardener to plant six trees and place statues beneath them representing prosperity, beauty, victory, strength, duty, and joy. These trees were to show to the world that the king had tried to make his reign fruitful. They were also to typify the statues beneath them. The gardener planted six palm trees. When the king came out to inspect the work and looked at the statue of joy, he said, "I surely thought you would typify joy with some flowering tree like the tulip or magnolia. How can the stately palm symbolize joy?" "Those flowering trees," said the gardener, "get their nourishment from open sources. They live in pleasant forests or orchards with hosts of other like trees. But I found this palm tree in a sandy waste. Its roots had found some hidden spring creeping along far beneath the burning surface. Then, thought I, highest joy has a foundation unseen of men and a source they cannot comprehend." Do you realize that if the light of Jesus Christ is within your heart it can be the only place in which joy is found, and yet it will be sufficient. You do not need the company of others in order to experience the joy that the light of Christ brings. A palm tree does not need the company of other trees to flourish and bring forth fruit. The Position of the Observer
In a great cathedral there is a statue of Christ. As one enters the cathedral and stands before that statue, he is appalled at the ugliness and repulsiveness of the sculptor's representation of Christ. He wonders whether that is what Christ really looked like. He is keenly disappointed. But then, as he comes closer to the statue, he can see an inscription on it which reads: "Kneel down and look up." He kneels down and looks up, and lo everything about it is different. The repulsiveness is replaced by a wonderful attractiveness. The face of Christ is not ugly any more. What makes the difference? It is the position of the observer. If he stands up and looks at the statue, there is no beauty to it, but if he kneels down and looks up, he sees the face of the gentle, loving Savior.
Christmas joy celebrates Christ's birth and our love that pleases Him.
Charles Wesley of England was without doubt one of the most productive hymn writers and preachers of all time. Yet, strangely enough, Wesley was able to get only one hymn poem into the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, and that one by error!
An eighteenth century printer didn't know that the "established Church" of England frowned with disapproval upon Wesley's hymns. Since he needed material to fill an empty space in the new hymnal, he took it upon himself to insert a Christmas poem called, "Hark, How All the Welkins Rings!" by an Anglican clergyman named Charles Wesley. When the error was discovered attempts were made to have it removed, but it proved so popular that it was allowed to remain.
It was written in 1738, but is still very moving today.
"Hark the herald angels sing.
Glory to the new born King.
Peace on earth, and mercy mild:
God and sinners reconciled." At Christmas Is Christ Happy Over Us?
"Mommy," asked Jane, "what makes everybody so happy at Christmas?" "Well, because it is the Lord Jesus' birthday...and because we love Him...and because we are happy about His coming to this world."
Jane thought a minute and then said, "Then is the Lord happy about you?" "Oh, little girl, what a question you have asked!"
Is the Lord Jesus happy about us on His birthday? Is he really happy because He sees within our hearts a deep, true love for Him? Does He see a satisfying love and not just a seasonal affection stirred up by the festivities of Christmas? What He wants more than anything else on His birthday is the love of our hearts. Do You Recognize Christ in Christmas?
Not long ago, a professor of psychology in one of our great universities gave a word suggestion test to his class of 40 students. He instructed them to write the word "Christmas," and all the class did so. "Now," said the professor, "right after the word 'Christmas'write the first thought that flashes through your mind regarding that day." When the papers were turned in, such answers were given as "tree," "holly," "mistletoe," "presents," "turkey," "holiday," "carols," and "Santa Claus," but not one had written, "the birthday of Jesus."
As there was no room for the baby Jesus in the inn, there is no room for Him today in the celebration of Christmas. Do Not Weep Over What You Do Not Have But Decorate What You Have
One Christmas Eve, as late Christmas shoppers hurried along the street, a crippled newsboy stood on his crutches offering his papers to the passersby. He looked happy, and his crutches were decorated with evergreens.
One man greeted him with a cheerful smile, "My boy, you surely have the Christmas spirit."
The boy replied "What's the use of putting on a sour face? Sure, I am poor and lame, but that's no reason for looking glum. I won't get presents like other boys at Christmas, but I can have fun, too. So I decorated my crutches just to make them seem special for Christmas."
If we go out to seek joy, it will elude us. If we go out to impart joy, we will find it. This Christmas, whether you have little or much, it makes no difference. It is your attitude that counts. A Christmas Prayer
Then let every heart keep
Christmas within-
Christ's pity for sorrow,
Christ's hatred for sin,
Christ's care for the weakest,
Christ's courage for right.
Everywhere, everywhere,
Christmas tonight! When Christmas Comes
Have you any old grudge you'd like to pay,
Any wrong laid up from a bygone day?
Gather them all now, and lay them away
When Christmas comes.
Hard thoughts are heavy to carry, my friend,
And life is short from beginning to end;
Be kind to yourself-leave nothing to mend-
When Christmas comes.
Christmas reminders encourage rejoicing in Jesus Christ our King.
May the Christmas cheer remind you of Him who said, "Be of good cheer."
May the Christmas bell remind you of the glorious proclamation of His birth.
May the Christmas carols remind you of the song the angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest."
May the Christmas season remind you in every way of Jesus Christ your King.
True joy and peace come from receiving Christ, not worldly pleasures.
A gentleman residing in the fashionable part of London, and thoroughly carried away with the follies of society life, was walking down the street one day with a Christian woman of his acquaintance. He turned to her and asked, "How is it that you religious people are always trying to rob us of our pleasure? I enjoy life, and I can't see why you should be forever trying to rob me of what pleasure this short life affords." "You are greatly mistaken if that is what you think," replied the woman. "We do not want you to give up anything, but to receive." The gentleman kept thinking of the word "receive." It refused to leave him. Not long after, he called on the woman, told her his life was miserable, and asked what he must do to receive peace of soul and joy of heart. She led him to the Savior, where he found pardon and joy he had never known before.
Joy in Christ leads to praise despite personal shortcomings or circumstances.
The old man could not carry a tune in a syrup bucket, but he loved to sing, even if it was off-key! Besides, he was bad about "amening" the preacher. Services had degenerated into an "undignified" assembly because of the old man. He simply got too involved in the "goings on" and forgot himself.
Four of the more well-to-do members decided that this old fellow was just too crude for the congregation. They appointed themselves as the ones to go and talk to the old man.
When they arrived at the old fellow's house, he was in the field plowing with his old mule. Though it was beneath their dignity, they finally walked out through the dusty ground which soiled their fine clothes to talk to the old timer. "Brother Jones," they began, "we want to talk to you about your singing. Not meaning any offense, but you just cannot sing. We wish you would try not to sing so loud because frankly, your singing ruins our services!"
"I am sorry," the old fellow replied, "but it is just that when I look at these old clothes that I wear and then I think of them robes that God has for me, I just cannot help singing. And when I see that old shack over yonder that I live in and realize that it is liable to fall any time, and then I think about the beautiful palace that God has for me, I just have to sing praises to my Lord. You fellers see this old hat I got on? Well, when I see that crown in my mind that God has for me, I just have to yell that wonderful name of Jesus at the top of my lungs!"
"As a matter of fact," he said, "would one of you fellers mind holding my mule? I feel like singing now."
They left him right there, singing away in the field! And as these four men left the old fellow out there singing they viewed him in a different light. One said to the rest, "You know, his singing is not really all that bad." Another said, "I never really realized how sweet his voice really is." The third said, "I just hope that God will allow me to sing in the same group that he sings in."
Now there are several lessons in this story. Possibly the reason these men had never really seen things in their true light before was that the world was just too much with them. I wonder if the reason that we have difficulty sometimes appreciating the things that God has reserved for us in heaven is that the world is just too much with us, too. (Amen!)
The gospel produces a distinct, joyful difference in believers that attracts others.
A stranger in St. Louis stopped a policeman one Sunday morning and asked him to recommend a church. He directed him to one at a little distance. "What's the matter with these other churches that I see along the way?" asked the stranger. "Why don't you recommend them?" "To tell the truth," replied the policeman, "I am an unbeliever myself, but people coming out of that church are always happy. They are different. If I ever decided to go to church, that's where I'd go. They've got something there that makes them happy." That something was the gospel of Jesus Christ. You may not be able to fully understand it, but it has the power to give you the joy, peace, and satisfaction of heart that the whole world cannot give.
Believers share joy and satisfaction as co-workers with God in His eternal work.
One day at Perth, England, Bishop Wilkinson noticed a thin-faced boy looking at him intently. He went up to him and asked if the boy wished to speak to him. "No, sir," said the lad, "only I sing in the same choir as you are in." The Bishop's friends laughed at the boy's idea of his association with the Bishop in the church, but the Bishop didn't laugh. It was precisely that spirit of partnership in God's work that he wished to encourage. Similarly what a wonderful sense of satisfaction a Christian has when he can look at an infinite and eternal God and say, "Lord, I am your co-worker." That is the most rewarding and unique privilege we can have.
Knowing Christ brings greater joy than worldly pleasures, which then seem worthless.
"The main reason why men dote upon the world is because they are not acquainted with a higher glory. Men ate acorns till they were acquainted with the use of corn; a candle is much ere the sun viseth." Now it has happened unto us to eat the bread of angels, and to see the Sun of righteousness, and never again can we find content in baser things. All the joys of the world are now but beggarly elements to us, compared with our delight in Christ Jesus our Lord. Carnal wisdom has become folly in our esteem; the mirth of fools is a weariness; and the pomp and glory of earth are mere baby toys, scarce worthy of a glance. What grace is this which has revealed such precious things to us! Worldly-wise men think us fanatics and fools, but we know what they are, and where the folly really lies. Oh, that their eyes were opened to join with us in the joys which they ridicule! If they will persist in their blindness it shall not be for want of plain testimony on our part, for we are bold to declare in all companies that there is more satisfaction in Christ's worst things than in sin's best things, and that a half-hour of his presence is better than all the feasting of royal courts for a lifetime. Oh that they would believe us so far as to try for themselves! Alas, they munch their acorns, and scorn the bread of life!
The Holy Spirit brings a foretaste of heaven's joy and peace into believers' hearts.
"As the odours and sweet smells of Arabia are carried by the winds and air into the neighbouring provinces, so that before travellers come thither they have the scent of that aromatic country; so the joys of heaven are by the sweet breathings and gales of the Holy Ghost blown into the hearts of believers, and the sweet smells of the upper paradise are conveyed into the gardens of the churches. Those joys which are stirred up in us by the Spirit before we get to heaven are a pledge of what we may expect hereafter. Oh that we had more of these heavenly gales laden with the spices of Immanuel's land! Gracious Lord, cause such a celestial wind to awake at this very hour! I am already accepted in Christ Jesus, adopted, and beloved in him: this is a foretaste of heaven. In him I am secure, immortal, triumphant: these also are heavenly privileges. In Jesus I have peace, and rest, and profound confidence: is not this also something of paradise? In my Lord I have fellowship with God, and exceeding joy in his love: surely the wind is blowing from the glory quarter, and has taken up much of the aroma of the beds of spices whereon the saints recline. The Holy Ghost hath revealed unto us in our inward experience much of the bliss which the Lord hath prepared for them that love him. The life of the believer on earth is the same as that which will be in him throughout eternity, and the joy with which the Lord favours him below is of the same nature as that which shall fill him for ever. When Jesus reveals himself to my soul, the winds are blowing from heaven; I can discern the fragrance. All around me delight is poured forth, and my heart is singing all the time.
Christians should rejoice as they journey toward their heavenly home with hope and joy.
"A poor beast that is going homeward goeth cheerfully." See how the horse pricks up his ears and quickens his pace when you turn his head to his stable. The proverb saith that even the dull ass doth the same. Much more then should intelligent Christian men feel the attractions of their heavenly home. Courage, brothers and sisters; we, too, are homeward bound. Every hour brings us nearer to the many mansions. We are not going from home, or we might hang our heads: our way is towards the Father's house on high, therefore let us rejoice at every step we take.
Age is sweeter and happier than youth when lived with Christ as foundation.
As ripe fruit is sweeter than green fruit, so is age sweeter than youth, provided the youth were grafted into Christ. As harvest-time is a brighter time than seed-time, so is age brighter than youth; that is, if youth were a seed-time for good. As the completion of a work is more glorious than the beginning, so is age more glorious than youth; that is, if the foundation of the work of God were laid in youth. As sailing into port is a happier thing than the voyage, so is age happier than youth; that is, when the voyage from youth is made with Christ at the helm. J. Pulsford.
Cheerfulness benefits the individual and makes them attractive and healthy in spirit.
Of all the virtues, cheerfulness is the most profitable. It makes the person who exercises it happy, and renders him acceptable to all he meets. While other virtues defer the day of recompense, cheerfulness pays down. It is a cosmetic, which makes homeliness graceful and winning; it promotes health, and gives clearness and vigor to the mind; it is the bright weather of the heart, in contrast to the clouds and gloom of melancholy. S. G. Goodrich.
Christian cheerfulness honors God and counters negative perceptions of faith.
It honors religion, it proclaims to the world we serve a good Master. Cheerfulness is a friend to grace: it puts the heart in tune to praise God. Uncheerful Christians, like the spies, bring an evil report on the good land; others suspect there is something unpleasant in religion, that they who profess it hang their harps upon the willows, and walk so dejectedly. Be serious, yet cheerful. Rejoice in the Lord always.
— T. Watson
Cultivating cheerfulness strengthens the heart and arms believers against life's trials.
Try it for a day, I beseech you, to preserve yourself in an easy and cheerful frame of mind. Be but for one day, instead of a fire-worshipper of passion, the sun-worshipper of clear self-possessions, and compare the day in which you have rooted out the weed of dissatisfaction with that on which you have allowed it to grow up; and you will find your heart open to every good motive, your life strengthened, and your breast armed with a panoply against every trick of fate: truly you will wonder at your own improvement. Richter.
A child's joyful imagination illustrates the sweetness of experiencing God's light and joy.
As a little girl was eating her dinner, the golden rays of the sun fell upon her spoon. She put the spoon to her mouth, exclaiming, "O ma! I have swallowed a whole spoonful of sunshine."
— B. M. Adams
Cheerfulness produces harmony, thankfulness, charity, and glorifies God in the believer's life.
Cheerfulness and a festival spirit fill the soul full of harmony; it composes music for churches and hearts; it makes and publishes glorifications of God; it produces thankfulness, and serves the end of charity; and, when the oil of gladness runs over, it makes bright and tall emissions of light and holy fires, reaching up to a cloud, making joy round about: and therefore, since it is so innocent, and may be so pious and full of holy advantage, whatsoever can innocently minister to this holy joy does set forward the work of religion and charity.
— Bp. Taylor
God puts sweetness in children, giving them natural cheerfulness and joy.
"Charlie, what is it that makes you so sweet?" said a loving mother, one day, to her little boy, as she pressed him to her bosom. "I dess, when God made me out of dust, he put a little thugar in," said Charlie.
A Christian's joy comes from assurance of heaven, God's fatherhood, and Christ's salvation.
There is no man so happy as the Christian. When he looks up unto heaven, he thinks, "That is my home; the God that made it and owns it is my Father; the angels, more glorious in nature than myself, are my attendants; mine enemies are my vassals." Yea, those things which are the terribles of all to the wicked are most pleasant to him. When he hears God thunder above his head, he thinks, "This is the voice of my Father." When he remembereth the tribunal of the last judgment, he thinks, "It is my Saviour that sits in it;" when death, he esteems it but as the angel set before Paradise, which, with one blow, admits him to eternal joy. And (which is most of all) nothing in earth or hell can make him miserable. There is nothing in the world worth envying, but a Christian. Bp. Hall.
A joyful Christian looks forward to eternal life seated with Jesus at God's right hand.
Let thy face ever wear a smile, let thine eyes sparkle with gladness, live near thy Master, live in the suburbs of the celestial city; as by and by, when thy time shall come, thou shalt borrow better wings than angels ever wore, and outsoar the cherubim, and rise up where thy Jesus sits, sit at his right hand: even as he has overcome, and has sat down upon his Father's right hand.
Spurgeon.
— WILL BE SURE TO PURSUANT
Christianity brings joyful hope and beauty to life, not gloom as some claim.
Christianity a gloomy system!—the world and devils may say so; but a thousand eyes that sparkle with a hope that maketh not ashamed, and a thousand hearts that beat happily with the full pulse of spiritual life, can tell thee thou liest. Christianity a gloomy system!—why, it is the Christian only, that can thoroughly enjoy the world; to him, to his grateful vision, earth is garlanded with fairer beauty, heaven sparkles with serener smiles; to him the landscape is the more lovely because it reminds him of the paradise of his hope in prospect, which his father once lost, but which his Saviour has brought back again, as a family inheritance, forever; to him the ocean rolls the more grandly because it figures out the duration of his promised life; to him the birds in their forest minstrelsy warble the more sweetly because their woodland music takes him upwards to the harpers harping with their harps in heaven; to him the mountains tower the more sublimely because their heaven-pointing summits are the emblems of his own majestic hopes.
— W. M. Punshon
Joy from God makes obeying His commandments delightful, not burdensome.
Cicero questions, whether that can properly be called a burden which one carries with delight and pleasure. If a man carries a bag of money given him, it is heavy; but the delight takes off the burden. When God gives inward joy, that makes the commandments delightful. Joy is like oil to the wheels, which makes a Christian run in the way of God's commandments, so that it is not burdensome.
— T. Watson
There is joy and glory in faithfully performing our duties as part of God's creation.
To some, duty, like law, seems a cheerless and rayless thing. The Sun thinks not thus when he "rejoiceth as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, or a strong man to run a race." There is a sunny joy in the motion, the life, of all creatures, which, to the tuned and attentive ear, is music; which is but the hum of duty in the acting. The song of the creation is the hymn of duty. Every bird that sings, every bee that hums, every flower that lifts its tremulous voice of praise to Him who has made so good a world, every star, bears its part in the great flood of harmony which floats the tributes of the duty of creation before the eternal throne. For man, duty in the doing is glory in the winning; "To them, who, by patient continuance in well-doing" (the complete picture of duty), "seek glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life." J. B. Brown.
A longing for Christ's glorious coming brings joy and hope beyond death.
— Oh, come in glory! I have long waited for Thy coming. Let no dark cloud rest on the work of the Indians. Let it live when I am dead. Welcome, joy!
A Christian's last breath is spent in praise, longing for Christ's return.
J. DICKENS. — "My dear brother, do you not already see the towers of the
New Jerusalem?" said a Christian brother. "I do," was his reply. When asked by the same person if they should engage in prayer, he said, "I would rather engage in praise." In that exercise, he spent his last breath. The last words uttered were, "Glory, glory! Come, Lord Jesus!"
Exclamations of glory and joy can continue until the moment of death.
JOSEPH EVERETT.—"Glory, glory, glory!" (These exclamations of rapture continued for twenty-five minutes, and then only ceased with life itself.)
A slave's joyful hope in heaven shows the sweetness of Christ's promises.
Uncle Johnson was a pious old slave of the family of Pres. Harrison, who was made free at the age of one hundred years. A friend of his for many years gives the following account: One day, while at work in his garden, singing and shouting, I said, "You seem happy to-day." — "Yes, massa: I've just tinking" (and then his emotions prevented further utterance), — "I've just tinking, dat if de crumbs dat fell from de
Master's table in dis world am so good, what will de great loaf in glory be? I tells ye, massa, dar will be 'nuff' an' to spare dere." At another time, when he seemed very happy, and I heard him shout, "Lord Jesus, will dere be one for me?" I said, "You are having a good time to-day?" He answered, "O massa! I was meditatin' 'bout Jesus bein' de carpenter; an' so he can make mansions for his people in glory." And then, with uplifted face, and with tears, he cried out, "O Jesus! will dere be one for me?" Once, after he had been ill for a few days, I said, "Uncle Johnson, I thought your appointed time had about come."—"Oh, yes, massa! one day, I thought I could see de dust ob de chariot comin' ober de mountains; and den something said, 'Hold on, Johnson, a little longer: I'll come around directly.' Yes: an' I will hold on anoder hundred years, for I'm bound for Canaan." One day, Rev. Dr. H. called on him. At parting, the doctor said, "Well, Uncle Johnson, I must go;" and then, taking him by the hand, said, "Good-by. I shall probably hear soon that you have gone over Jordan, but we will follow on." The old man replied, "Yes, massa: a great many years ago, young men like you tell me dat; an' den, after a bit, I'd hear dey ha' gone, an' I'm a pilgrim yet: but I always manages to send word."—"Well, if I should die first, what word would you send?" said Dr. H. "O massa! if you get home to glory afore I do" (weeping), "tell 'em ta keep de table standin'; for Johnson is holding on his way."
Faith and love create joy and peace even in suffering and death.
A dying woman said, "Is he not a precious Saviour? so great and good, and willing to save all us poor sinners!" She was lying on a hard bed in the dreary infirmary-ward of a work-house; and the power of faith and love to create a happiness independent of circumstances came out with almost startling force in her answer to the inquiry, "You know him, then, and love him?"—"Yes; I do know him, and love him: his presence makes a heaven of this room. If you heaped up my bed with gold and silver," she added; "if you could give me the queen's carriage and horses, and her palace and her garden, and all her beautiful flowers, and health and strength to enjoy it all,—I would not take them, if they would hinder me from going home to my Saviour. They talk of the pains of dying: what will they be to me? They will but hurry me to heaven and to Jesus."
Doing good benefits both others and the doer through a clear conscience.
He that does good to another man does also good to himself, not only in the consequences, but in the very act of doing it; for the conscience of well doing is an ample reward. Seacca.
Rejoicing in the gospel is like celebrating the sun's return after long darkness.
Procopius reports, that near the pole, where the night lasts many months, the inhabitants go up to the tops of the mountains, when it is time for the sun to appear, striving who shall get the first sight. At its appearance, they deck themselves in their best apparel, embrace each other with joy, and cry, "Ecce sol!" "Behold the sun!" How much more should we rejoice in the light of the gospel! Spencer.
Having God as Lord is the highest happiness surpassing all earthly riches.
St. Augustine tells of two who were passing a stately house with fine grounds; when one asked to whom they belonged, and, having learned, replied, "Oh! that is a happy man indeed." The other answered, "Not so happy as you think; for it is not such happiness to have that house and land. But he is happy indeed who has the Lord to be his God; it is a privilege which exceeds all things whatsoever: for he who has honor and riches may go to hell for all them; but he who has God for his God is sure to be everlastingly happy." Spencer.
Jesus brings joy that can cause tears of happiness even when unseen.
A Prussian nobleman, who did not believe in God nor in the Bible, once overheard a little girl singing. It was a sweet strain; and a child's voice is always irresistible. As he drew near, he saw tears upon her cheeks, as if she had been weeping. "Why are you crying as you sing?" he kindly asked her. "Oh, I am so happy!" said the little girl. "But why do you weep if you are so happy?" — "I love Jesus so well," the little girl said, "that I was crying for joy." — "But where is Jesus?" asked the nobleman. "In heaven." — "How can he do any thing for you if he is in heaven. He cannot give you clothes and playthings as your parents and friends do." — "Oh, yes! he can do something for me. He comes to my heart, and makes me happy." — "Nonsense!" said the nobleman: "that is nonsense." — "Oh, no! it is not nonsense," answered the little evangelist. "I know it is the truth, and it makes me glad." The nobleman turned away; but an angel had touched his heart. He sought the little girl's Saviour, and joy came with him.
The Bible alone reveals the way to true rest and happiness in Christ.
What this is the Bible alone shows clearly and certainly, and points out the way that leads to the attainment of it. This is that which prevailed with St. Augustine to study the Scriptures, and engaged his affections to them. "In Cicero and Plato, and other such writers," says he, "I meet with many things acutely said, and things that excite a certain warmth of emotion; but in none of them do I find these words, 'Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'"
— S. T. Coleridge
A believer's joy is rooted in Christ's presence in heart, Word, and heaven.
A missionary from India relates the experience of a native Christian whom he was called to visit. Inquiring the state of her mind, she replied, "Happy, happy! I have Christ here!" laying her hand on the Bengalee Bible, "and Christ here!" pressing it to her heart, "and Christ there!" pointing towards heaven.
A joyful, serene home is like a hilltop with long, golden hours of cheerfulness.
A man's house should be on the hill-top of cheerfulness and serenity, so high, that no shadows rest upon it, and where the morning comes so early, and the evening tarries so late, that the day has twice as many golden hours as those of other men. He is to be pitied whose house is in some valley of grief between the hills, with the longest night and the shortest day. Home should be the centre of joy, equatorial and tropical. Beecher.
True heavenly joy and bliss are found only in knowing and loving Jesus.
Heaven itself, although it be a fertile land flowing with milk and honey, can produce no fairer flower than the rose of Sharon; its highest joys mount no higher than the head of Jesus; its sweetest bliss is found in his name alone. If we would know heaven, let us know Jesus; if we would be heavenly, let us love Jesus. Spurgeon.
The name of Jesus is the sweetest music and fragrance to a sinner's soul.
To a sinner's ear there is no music on earth, nor in the golden harps of heaven, like the name of Jesus. Music in its sound, there is ointment in its meaning; fragrant as the spikenard of the alabaster box, "His name is as ointment poured forth."
— Dr. Guthrie
God sends many truths like birds seeking inlet, but we must open to receive joy.
There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing a while upon the roof, and then fly away. Beecher.
Joy arises from the hope of standing before God and partaking in the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Think you it will be a small honor to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb, and be clothed in white, and be called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb, and to be led to the "fountain of living waters," and to come to the well-head, even God himself, and get your fill of the clear, cold, sweet, refreshing waters of life,—the King's own well,—and to put up your own hand to the tree of life, and take down and eat the sweetest apple in all God's heavenly paradise,—Jesus Christ, your life and your Lord? Up, your heart! Shout for joy! Your King is coming to fetch you to his Father's house.
Christian joy is a present possession that continues and expands into eternal blessedness.
The farthest that any of the philosophers went in the discovery of blessedness was but to come to that,—to pronounce that no man could be called blessed before his death; not that they had found what kind of better blessedness they went to after death, but that still, till death, they were sure every man was subject to new miseries, and interruptions of any thing which they could call blessedness. The Christian philosophy goes farther: it shows us a perfecter blessedness than any conceived for the next life also. The pure in heart are blessed already, not only comparatively, that they are in a better way of blessedness than others are, but actually, in a present possession of it; for this world and the next world are not, to the pure in heart, two houses, but two rooms, a gallery to pass through, and a lodging to rest in, in the same house, which are both under one roof, Christ Jesus. So the joy and the sense of salvation which the pure in heart have here is not a joy severed from the joy of heaven, but a joy that begins in us here, and continues, and accompanies us thither, and there flows on, and dilates itself to an infinite expansion. Dr. Donne.
The purest joy comes from blessing others and sharing divine grace's consolations.
The joy resulting from the diffusion of blessings to all around us is the purest and sublimest that can ever enter the human mind, and can be conceived only by those who have experienced it. Next to the consolations of divine grace, it is the most sovereign balm to the miseries of life, both in him who is the object of it, and in him who exercises it; and it will not only soothe and tranquillize a troubled spirit, but inspire a constant flow of good humor, content, and givety of heart. Ep. Porteus.
The wicked's joy is fleeting like fireworks; the righteous enjoy everlasting joy like stars.
That of the wicked is but for a moment; that of the righteous is everlasting. The wicked rejoice; but their joy is simply like letting off fireworks, — they blaze away, and seem to put the modest little stars to shame. But it is all for a little while: they are over in a moment, while the quiet stars are shining still. Rev. T. Jones.
God commands us to rejoice always, not to wear sorrow as a sign of grace.
Some people think black is the color of heaven, and that, the more they can make their faces look like midnight, the more evidence they have of grace. But God, who made the sun and the flowers, never sent me to proclaim to you such a lie as that. We are told to "rejoice in the Lord always." Beecher.
Our present life is preparation; God fashions our hearts for future eternal joy.
It is not so much by the symmetry of what we attain in this life that we are to be made happy, as by the enlivening hope of what we shall reach in the world to come. While a man is stringing a harp, he tries the strings, not for music, but for construction: when it is finished, it shall be played for melodies. God is fashioning the human heart for future joy. He only sounds a string here and there to see how far his work has progressed. Beecher.
True joy is rare and shows as contentment from a loving soul's peace.
I sometimes go musing along the street to see how few people there are whose faces look as though any joy had come down and sung in their souls. I can see lines of thought, and of care, and of fear, — money-lines, shrewd, grasping lines, — but how few happy lines! The rarest feeling that ever lights the human face is the contentment of a loving soul. Beecher.
Knowing your debt is paid by Christ brings overwhelming joy and renewed strength.
An artisan, in the service of a rich Eastern master, by some imprudence got into an immense debt with an unmerciful creditor, who told him, that, unless he settled accounts before the close of the year, he and his family should be sold as slaves. It was impossible for the poor man to pay the debt: he might quite as well have tried to build up a tower like that of Babel in one night. Meanwhile, his master noticed that his work was falling off every week. One day, he spoke about this to the steward. "Why, sir," the steward replied, "that poor fellow cannot possibly make good work. He cannot manage his tools; for his hands tremble: nor can he see well what he is doing; for his eyes are often filled with tears. He often sits down as in despair, and sighs heavily; and sometimes he makes himself drunk to forget his misery. A heavy debt is pressing upon him, sir; and, until it is paid, he will not be able to make one good piece of work." — "Tell him, then, that I have paid his debt," the generous master said. The steward went up to the servant, and delivered the message. Picture to yourselves the joy of that poor man. From that moment, fresh vigor was poured into his veins. His hands trembled no more; nor were his eyes dimmed with tears; he swung his hammer with a will, so that it was a pleasure to see him; his little dwelling rang with his merry songs: and he made his work even quicker and better than ever before. Sunday Magazine.
Believers can rejoice because Christ lives, giving reason for lasting joy despite trials.
Faith may dance because Christ singeth; and we may come into the choir, and lift our hoarse and rough voices, and chirp and sing, and shout for joy, with our Lord Jesus. We see oxen go to the shambles leaping and running; we see God's fed oxen, prepared for the day of slaughter, go dancing and singing down to the black chambers of hell: and why should we go to heaven weeping as if we were to fall down through the earth for sorrow? If God were dead, — if I may speak so with reverence of Him who liveth for ever and ever, — and Christ buried and rotten among the worms, we might have cause to look like dead folks; but the Lord liveth, and blessed be the rock of our salvation! None have right to joy but we, for joy is sorrow for us; and an ill summer or harvest will not spoil the cross. Rutherford.
Sinner's joy is fleeting like lightning; saint's joy is lasting like healing light.
Lightning and light may suitably illustrate the difference between the joy of the sinner and the saint.
The one is like lightning, — short, hurried, transient, searching; the other is like light, — lasting, healthful, beautiful, and healing.
The joy of saints is sweet and intimate, far surpassing worldly pleasures.
The saints have a sweet life between them and Christ. There is much sweet solace of love between them and him, when he feedeth among the lilies, and cometh into his garden, and maketh a feast of honeycombs, and drinketh his wine and his milk, and crieth, "Eat, O friends! drink, yea, drink abundantly, O well-beloved!" One hour of this labor is worth a shipful of the world's drunken and muddy joy; nay, even the gate of heaven is the sunny side of the brue, and the very garden of the world. Hutterford.
True joy comes from forgiveness and reconciliation with God.
Little Annie had for some time been very sad; but one day she was seen to appear very happy. Her eyes sparkled with joy; and she seemed as though she could hardly bear the pleasure she felt, it was so great. "Annie, why are you so cheerful?" — "Oh!" she said, "it is because I am so happy!" — "But why are you so happy?"
— "Oh! I was wicked, and God was angry with me: but now he has forgiven me; and that is why I am so happy."
