Religion Brings Pleasure, Spiritual Good as Law of Life

1895

What Religion Does

It is a mistake to suppose that religion is designed to eliminate pleasure from life. Quite the contrary is true. It does inculcate thoughts and principles of a serious and important nature. But in doing so it promotes pleasure of the choicest and most enduring variety. It brings mere worldly amusement under due limitation, and employs it chiefly as a relaxation of life.

Religion brings its own pleasure with it. Extirpating nothing innocent, it makes innocence itself a bliss. Discouraging nothing cheerful, it renders cheerfulness itself a common habit by grafting into the heart something to be cheerful over. It regulates the intellectual machinery, gives poise to thought, symmetry to plans, and harmony to purposes.

It enthrones spiritual good as the law of life and imparts qualities of richness, sweetness, and joy to right actions and helpful words. It promotes longevity by inculcating temperate habits and proper care of all the physical organs and powers. It imparts correct and healthful views to our earthly existence by teaching that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be despised, and that it is the privilege of all believers to use this world as not abusing it. It is the normal condition of complete being.

Sin gives no real advantage to anyone, but holiness does. Sin destroys. It mars perfection. It clogs aspiration. It cripples endeavor. Holiness upbuilds. It engenders completeness. It fans legitimate ardor. It crowns all laudable effort with true success. Paul embodied common sense and true philosophy in his beautiful statement that "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come" (1 Timothy 4:8).