By:
Edited By Heymen Wreford
A YOUNG officer in the British army was brought to know Jesus as his Saviour and Lord. In addition to serving his Queen and his country he sought to serve Him who had chosen him to be a soldier of the cross. His bright, happy face and cheerful, winning ways preached a sermon to those with whom he came in contact.
One day he was accosted by a fellow-officer with such words as these: ― “I cannot make you out. You profess to be a Christian, and you don’t appear like one.”
“I am very sorry to hear you say that,” was the reply. “Wherein is my conduct inconsistent with my profession?”
“I do not mean that, but you seem to be so cheerful and happy. My idea of a Christian is that he is a man that is always heaving sighs and drawing a long face, looking very sanctimonious and feeling miserable and stupid, but you appear to be as happy as the day is long — I never see you miserable; you are the most cheerful fellow in the whole regiment, and I cannot make you out.” “Look here, my good fellow,” was the reply. “I want to tell you something, and that is, I have got a right to be happy and you have not! My happiness is reasonable and yours is irrational! My happiness arises from contemplating facts, and yours is dependent on forgetfulness of facts.”
The young officer was right; he was happy and could afford to be so. When he remembers the pit from whence he has been dug, the hell from which he has been snatched, the heaven for which he is kept, the unchanging and unchangeable love of Him who once died for him, now lives for him, is coming soon to take him to be with Himself for all eternity, he is filled with joy unspeakable.
Unconverted men and women have pleasures and enjoyments, but they thirst for more and are ever unsatisfied. Their “happiness” is dependent upon their forgetfulness of their dreadful position in the sight of a just and holy God.
Have you been the victim of the Satanic delusion that if you became a Christian you would not be so happy as you are at present? You are only “happy” when you forget facts. You know that you have never been “born again” —that you have never been “converted” to God; and, called to meet Him in your present condition, you could not see, or enter heaven (see John 3:3-73Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. (John 3:3‑7); Matt. 18:33And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)) as one who has not accepted of God’s great salvation you are condemned already (John 3:1818He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)), and His wrath abides upon you (John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)). When you contemplate your peril, and look forward to the great day of reckoning, you can see nothing but everlasting ruin. Why then be so foolish as to forget your danger? Why be so mad as to shut your eyes to your real condition, and try to make yourself believe that it will be “all right” at last? “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). “We must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again” (2 Sam. 14:1414For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. (2 Samuel 14:14)). A few brief years at the longest and the place that knows you now will know you no more. When your body lies mouldering in the grave the world will go on as before. The sun will shine as usual, the birds will warble their notes of praise as blithely, the moon will cast its silvery light on the earth, the flowers will bloom, springtime and harvest, summer and winter will roll along, and where will your soul be? Face the question! Turn it over honestly and candidly! If the truth were told would you not have to admit that, called to meet God in your present condition, your eternity would be spent in hell? And yet you can be “happy”! Is the condemned criminal “happy” when he remembers that at eight o’clock next morning he will be executed? Is yonder merchant “happy” when he sees that the ship, in which he has invested his all, is in danger of being wrecked? Is that affectionate mother “happy” at the thought of her son being killed in the dreadful explosion; and how can you be happy? How can you go to bed at night when you know that before the morning dawns your precious soul may be beyond the reach of mercy?
Be wise! True happiness can only be had in Christ. The Christian has a happiness the world knows nothing of; it springs from a hidden source, and flows from the heart of God. The Christian can lay his head on the pillow at night, remembering if it be the will of his Father to take him “home” before the morning dawns, “sudden death” will be to him sudden bliss, and throughout the changing scenes of life he has One always beside him to comfort and to cheer. When sickness enters his home and the messenger of death follows on the track, he is assured that “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:2828And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)), and he can say from his heart “Thy will be done.”
Unsaved fellow-traveler to eternity, you have not the faintest idea what you are losing in not possessing Christ. He is the spring and source of perennial joy. Come to Him, as you are and where you are, in simple faith, and you will then begin to understand what real life is, and be able to apprehend the meaning of the Psalmist’s words: “Happy is that people whose God is the Lord” (Psa. 144:1515Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 144:15)).
If, however, you continue your present course of conduct, doing your best to forget your danger and destiny, and neglecting the salvation of God which you are now besought to receive, you may suddenly be ushered into eternity, and awaken in hell, to weep and wail throughout the countless ages, remembering that you might have been in heaven, and that there was no one to blame but yourself. But it need not be so, for if you come to Christ, then you shall know “fullness of joy” and “pleasures for evermore.”
A. M.