Anyone who claims that Christianity makes people miserable is an utter stranger to it. How strange it would be if following Christ made us wretched! Look at the position it raises us to—it makes us sons of God!

Think about it. Will God give all the happiness to his enemies and reserve all the mourning for his own family? Shall his foes have mirth and joy while his home-born children inherit sorrow and wretchedness? Shall the sinner who has no part in Christ call himself rich in happiness while we go mourning like penniless beggars? No!

We will rejoice in the Lord always and glory in our inheritance! For we "have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 'Abba, Father!'"

Yes, the rod of chastisement must rest upon us in our measure, but it works for us the comfortable fruits of righteousness. And so, by the aid of the divine Comforter, we—the "people saved of the Lord"—will joy in the God of our salvation.

We are married to Christ! Shall our great Bridegroom permit his spouse to linger in constant grief? Our hearts are knit to him—we are his members. And though for a while we may suffer as our Head once suffered, yet we are even now blessed with heavenly blessings in him.

We have the earnest of our inheritance in the comforts of the Spirit—which are neither few nor small! Inheritors of joy forever, we have foretastes of our portion. There are streaks of the light of joy to herald our eternal sunrising. Our riches are beyond the sea; our city with firm foundations lies on the other side of the river. Gleams of glory from the spirit-world cheer our hearts and urge us onward.

Truly is it said of us: "Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, O people saved by the Lord?"