July 9

Bible standard of Christian joy

“And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 13:52).
“And ye . . . received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thess. 1:6).

Count those “joy” texts in the Bible. You will be surprised at their number, their beauty, their comprehensiveness, and the way in which they crop out of heavy, hard experiences, like diamonds out of a quartz rock.
Then take more time, and find out whether or not the joy of these Bible people matches yours. If not, why not? If you go grumbling where they are praising, if you are meeting persecution, trials, hardships, privations, necessities, sorrows, with grit, dogged endurance, a sense of hard duty, or anything except the grace and joy of the Holy Spirit, with all the perfect fruits of righteousness, which the Spirit produces, you can’t spend the rest of your time any better than in getting on praising ground. Get filled with the Spirit, and you must, you will, rejoice at all times.
—Elizabeth S. Brengle.

As lilies of the valley pour forth perfume, so good hearts pour forth thanksgiving. No mercy is too small to provoke it, no trial too severe to restrain it. As Samson got honey from the carcass of the lion he slew, and as Moses got water from the flinty rock, so the pure in heart are possessed of a sort of heavenly alchemy, a divine secret by which they get blessing out of all things, and for which there is giving of thanks.
—Samuel Logan Brengle.

Sorrow with his pick mines the heart, but he is a cunning workman; he deepens the channels whereby happiness may enter, and hollows out new chambers for joy to abide in when he is gone.
—Mary Cholmondeley.

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