THAT YOUR JOY MIGHT BE FULL

 

JUNE 23.
 
That your joy might be full.
I John 1:4

 

THE Lord loves to see his people happy,
  and therefore he has made full provision
   for them in his holy word.
 
He bids them cast all their cares upon him,
  to expect every necessary good thing from him,
  and to rejoice always in him.
 
John wrote to the brethren in his day;
  he told them that God was love;
  that Christ was their propitiation and advocate;
  that they were the sons of God;
  that God had given unto them eternal life, and
  had admitted them into union with himself; and
  all this that their joy might be full.
 
Beloved, all our sorrows spring from our sins,
  but our joys are the gifts of free grace.
 
There is enough in ourselves to make us miserable,
  but there is enough in Jesus to fill us with joy under
  the most miserable circumstances.
 
Let us endeavour to live out of self upon Christ,
  to make use of him for our present happiness,
   as well as our everlasting salvation.
 
Let us bear in mind today,
  that God's word is to make us happy, and
  at every doctrine, promise, and precept,
  rightly understood, is calculated to do so.
 
O Lord, thy saints are a happy people,
  may I share in their happiness,
   and so glorify thy name!
 
 

Their daily delight shall be in thy name,

They shall, as their right, thy righteousness claim;

Thy righteousness wearing, and cleans’d by the blood,

Bold shall they appear in the presence of God.

 
James Smith 1849