Should Christianity be Endured or ENJOYED?
HAVE
you thought of religion as a life of gloom—a sort of living, painful,
penance merely to be endured—a lot of "don'ts," and giving up of every
pleasure that makes life worth living—with all the rewards to be
collected in the hereafter?Jesus said: "I am come that they might have
LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).
Let us profit by the words of George Romanes, a British psychologist of the last century:
"Some
men are not conscious of the cause of their misery. . . . For the most
part they conceal the fact as well as possible from themselves by
occupying their minds with society, sport, frivolity of all kinds, or
if intellectually disposed, with science, literature, business. . . .
This, however, is but to fill a starving belly with husks. . . . He may
cheat himself for a time—especially if he be a strong man—into the
belief that he is nourishing himself by denying his natural appetite;
but he soon finds he was made for some altogether different kind of
food."
Your Natural Food
Too
often we fill our poor hungry souls with the empty husks of this
world's entertainments and amusements, with society, strenuous business
interests, or even an empty FORM of religion? It doesn't SATISFY. Do
you know why?
You were MADE for an altogether different kind of food.
You were so made, realize it or not, that you crave real spiritual food. Food such as only God can supply.
God
is the Creator. God is composed of SPIRIT (John 4:24). ''He giveth to
all life, and breath, and all things . . . for IN HIM we live, and move
and have our being" (Acts 17:25, 28).
Unless you are drinking in
of His spirit, thus living in him, feeding continually upon His
spiritual food, you are denying your natural appetite. And this
explains the real cause of most of the unrest, dissatisfaction and
unhappiness in the world!
Jesus said: "Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word of God''! (Luke 4.4.) And the words of
God, as spoken by Jesus and recorded in the Scriptures, "they are
spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). They that worship God must
worship Him in spirit, and in truth (John 4:24).
This can be
done only if you yield completely in unconditional surrender to His
written will, and thru Jesus Christ, have received and are continually
drinking in of HIS SPIRIT. And that a blessedness! what a JOY to drink
in of the soul-satisfying waters of God's Holy Spirit thru communion
with Him in honest, sincere prayer, and thru a real intelligent.
willing study of the Holy Scriptures! It is a joy nothing else can give.
"Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for THEY SHALL BE FILLED!"
Righteousness is obedience to God's will—His commandments (Psalm 119:-172). It is obedience that makes us happy.
If
you have never yet fully known the peace, the happiness, the
indescribable JOY that can flood like sunshine thru your soul—or if,
like so many, you have neglected it—turn today to God in full
repentance—to the God who so loves you that He gave His only begotten
Son that you might have His joy—eternally!
by Herbert W. Armstrong January, 1955 The GOOD NEWS
