| J. R. Miller | Page 3 |
We speak much of the duty of making others happy. No day should pass, we say, on which we do not put a little cheer into some discouraged heart, make the path a little smoother for someone’s tired feet, or help some fainting robin unto its nest again. This is right. We cannot put too great emphasis upon the duty of giving happiness and cheer to others. But it is no less a duty that we should be happy and cheerful ourselves.
It was the great Teacher himself who said, “Be of good cheer.” He said it in substance many times. He counseled his followers against anxiety. He showed his friends an example of cheerfulness. Some people have the impression that Jesus was a sad man. He was indeed a man of sorrows, but his face was always radiant with the light of an inner joy. He never cast a shadow on any other life. Artists, in their pictures of the infancy, represent the Christ-child as shedding forth a soft, quiet light, which brightens the humble surroundings. Always from the Christ, wherever he moved, light streamed. His life was full of cheer. No one ever felt depressed from coming into his presence. On the contrary, everyone who looked into his face and heard his words was made happier for the time.
Then his teachings were all towards the same spirit. It is supposed by some that religion makes people solemn, takes the sunshine out of their life, the joy out of their heart, the song out of their mouth. But the reverse of this is the truth. No other one in the world has such secrets of joy as has the Christian. Christ teaches his followers to rejoice. He bids them rejoice even in sorrow and trial.
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