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The Joy of Well-Chosen Words, September 27
To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season, how good it
is!
Proverbs 15:23
, R.S.V.
“A word spoken in due season, how good is it!” (K.J.V.). Souls are perishing
for the lack of personal labor....
The bright and cheerful side of religion will be represented by all who are
daily consecrated to God. We should not dishonor our Lord by a mournful relation
of trials that appear grievous. All trials that are received as educators will produce
joy. The whole religious life will be uplifting, elevating, ennobling, fragrant with
good words and works.... [God] desires every soul to triumph in the keeping power
of the Redeemer.
The psalmist says: ... “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name....
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” ... “Sing unto the Lord, ... and give
thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.”
In the gracious blessings which our heavenly Father has bestowed upon us,
we may discern innumerable evidences of a love that is infinite, and a tender
pity surpassing a mother’s yearning sympathy for her wayward child. When we
study the divine character in the light of the cross, we see mercy, tenderness, and
forgiveness blended with equity and justice. In the language of John we exclaim,
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God.”
We see in the midst of the throne One bearing in hands, and feet, and side the
marks of suffering endured to reconcile man to God, and God to man. Matchless
mercy reveals to us a Father, infinite, dwelling in light unapproachable, yet receiv-
ing us to Himself through the merits of His Son. The cloud of vengeance which
threatened only misery and despair, in the reflected light from the cross reveals
the writing of God: “Live, sinner, live! ye penitent and believing souls, live! I
have paid a ransom.”
We must gather about the cross. Christ and Him crucified must be the theme of
contemplation, of conversation, and of our most joyful emotion. We should have
special praise services for the purpose of keeping fresh in our thoughts everything
that we receive from God, and of expressing our gratitude for His great love, and
our willingness to trust everything to the Hand that was nailed to the cross for
us.... We should learn to talk the language of Canaan, to sing the songs of Zion.
By the mystery and glory of the cross we can estimate the value of man, and then
we shall see and feel the importance of working for our fellow men, that they may
be exalted to the throne of God.—
The Southern Watchman, March 7, 1905
.
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