True Happiness by Octavius Winslow Happiness is the magic charm that the world is eagerly in search of, but the believer in Christ is its only possessor. He has found it, and found it in Jesus. He has found it in a renunciation of self-righteousness and in a humble reception of Jesus. There is no true happiness outside of Jesus. What true happiness can the heart feel while it is spiritually dead, its sins are unpardoned, it is under condemnation, and exposed to the wrath of a holy and just God? Oh, reader, do not dream of happiness until you have gone as a repenting sinner to the cross of Christ. You may be a son or a daughter of affliction. In this furnace you may be chosen, and through this furnace it may be the Lord's holy will that you should pass all your days. You may be a child of poverty, possessing but little of this world's comforts, and you feel lonely, neglected, and despised. Yet, oh, look up, Christian! You are precious in God's sight. You are as dear to Him as the pupil of His eye. His heart yearns over you with more than a mother's exquisite fondness for her child, because He has loved you with an everlasting love. And to the praise of the glory of His grace, He has accepted you in the Beloved. Realize this, and though rough and thorny your path may be, and fiery your furnace, and deep your poverty, and lonely your situation, you shall experience a peace and a happiness to which the world around you is an utter stranger. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid." John 14, 27. Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law they meditate day and night. Psalm 1 verses 1 and 2.