Jesus Christ: Our Chief Joy and Delight

By A. W. Tozer

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and
shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Psalm 32:11

    I must agree with the psalmist, even in our modern
day, that the joy of the Lord is still the strength of His
people.  I do believe that the sad world around us is
attracted to spiritual sunshine the---genuine thing, that
is!

    Some churches train their greeters and ushers to
smile, showing as many teeth as possible.  But I can sense
that kind of display---and when I am greeted by a man
who is smiling because he has been trained to smile, I
know I am shaking the flipper of a trained seal!

    But when the warmth and delight and joy of the Holy
Spirit are in a congregation and the folks are just spon-
taneously joyful and unable to hide the happy grin, the
result is a wonderful influence upon others.  Conversely,
the reason we have to search for so many things to cheer
us up is the fact that we are not really joyful and
contentedly happy within!

    I admit that we live in a gloomy world and that inter-
national affairs, nuclear rumors and threats, earthquakes
and riots cause people to shake their heads in despair and
say, "What's the use?"

    But we are Christians, and Christians have every right
to be the happiest people in the world!  We do not have to
look to other sources---for we look to the Word of God
and discover how we can know the faithful God above
and draw from His resources.

    Why should the children of the King hang their heads
and tote their own burdens, missing the mark about
Christian victory?  All this time the Holy Spirit has been
wanting to make Jesus Christ our chief joy and delight!

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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.