True happiness is to be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, feeding upon Him through the Word, and a Christian is the only one who has the right to be happy. And surely he should be happy.
What is the reason we find so many Christians who go about with sad faces? It shows to us that Christ is not the object of their hearts, and they are not casting all their care upon Him, relying on the assurance that He cares for them.
And there are some people who think that Christians must needs be very sombre—that what they call religion is to be always associated with gloom—so they go about looking so sad, as if they hadn’t a friend, when Jesus is their friend and He has shown such wonderful love in giving His life for them, and is concerned about their smallest trials, and will carry all for them if they will let Him.
This is not commending the gospel to the unsaved around us. It is the gospel (or Glad Tidings) of God concerning His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, that we are called upon to make known both by word and action—good news to weary, sin-burdened hearts. As we are feeding, in our own souls, upon the love of God, the beauties and glories of Christ, and the wonderful blessings which have been bestowed upon us, our faces will not look sad, but a deep peace, a calm joy will possess our souls and our countenances will show that which will be to His glory, and we shall not be self-occupied but think of the good and needs of others—to visit the sick and poor; inquire into their wants and minister to them; seek out the desolate and oppressed, and tell them of the consolations of Christ, and show that precious sympathy for others, which the blessed Lord Jesus so delights in and so deeply proved when He was here upon earth among men.
Dear young Christians, you may be very sure that those who are most like Him in this, as well as in other respects, do more to commend the Gospel of the grace of God than all who speak of it, while they act as if there was no happiness connected with accepting Christ as the Savior.