Friday, January 17, 2014

Happy and/or Holy

"Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself" (Romans 14:11-12)

One may easily deceive himself by cultivating a religious joy without a correspondingly righteous life. No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. He should spend his efforts in seeking to know and to the will of God, leaving to Christ the matter of how happy he shall be.

For those who take this whole thing seriously I have a suggestion. Go to God and have an understanding. Tell Him that it is your desire to be holy at any cost and then ask Him never to give you more happiness than holiness. When your holiness becomes tarnished, let you joy become dim. And ask Him to make you holy whether you are happy or not.

Be assured that in the end you will be as happy as you are holy; but for the time being let your whole ambition be to serve God and be Christlike.

The end of the Christian in the exercise of grace is the glory of God, and not merely his own present or future happiness.

~A. W. Tozer~

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