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The religion of JOY
(Octavius Winslow, "The Sympathy of Christ")
The religion of Christ is the religion of JOY. Christ came to take away our
sins, to roll off our curse, to unbind our chains, to open our prison house, to
cancel our debt; in a word, to give us the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Is not this joy? Where can we find a joy
so real, so deep, so pure, so lasting? There is every element of joy; deep,
ecstatic, satisfying, sanctifying joy in the gospel of Christ. The believer in
Jesus is essentially a happy man. The child of God is, from necessity, a joyful
man. His sins are forgiven, his soul is justified, his person is adopted, his
trials are blessings, his conflicts are victories, his death is immortality, his
future is a heaven of inconceivable, unthought of, untold, and endless
blessedness. With such a God, such a Savior, and such a hope, is he not, ought
he not, to be a joyful man?
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