"BE OF GOOD CHEER"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 2, 25 September 1937, Page 14

"BE OF GOOD CHEER"

Ko oue can read the Gospel story witliout realising that there wero one or two Wofds that .Tesus was in the habit of fepeating. Onn of these words was, ,{Be of good eheer." He was always saying to people, "Cheer iip. Behind the clouds tlie sun is shiniiig'" Even when the shadow of the Cross was fitiilg ovfer His life, He said to His disciples, "Be of good cheer. Everything is all right. There is nOthing to be depressed about. Keep your hearts up about life." Another Word that Jesus often said to people was, "35o not be afraid. There is nothing in God's world to be afraid of." Another form of the same word was, "Do iiot worry. Bo not be anxious." Aiixiety aiid worry are just forms of fear. They are juSt the fear of what may happeh b-mofrow, of next Week, or next year, finding a honie . in our Hearts. Jesus said, "Bo flot garry about with you to-day the burdens of to-morrow. ' ' I SiipposD most of us here when we have looked back on our life fealise how needless have been many of our fears aiid WOrries and anxieties. Sow often tliO thiiigS W0 worried inest about never happenedl Jesus had that wisdom of seeing thrdugh life, and understanding it; and He was able to give people this goOd advice because He could also say, "Have faith in God." We know in our hearts that there is liothing so futile as to say to people who are in trouble and despair, "Don'fc worry," unless we are able to say, "Have faith in God." In a world like this, optiniism and courage ahd fearlessnOss eanuqt be sustained exeept upon the basis of faith in God. Jesus knew that. The first thing to do w.hen- we get into a pauic, or into a difficulty about anything, is to get down befofe God about it, and let God's peace into our hearts. If thOre is soniething wr ong abdut a btiiidifig We say at oiice, "What aboiit the foundatious?" Aiid that iS the fifst thing WO ought to do about life. We ought ti) Usk OUrselveS: IS there any lack of solidity thete? I remember rfeading a letter in the Times With regai'd to Waterloo bridgCj in which an engineer said that when. they were examining the fdtindations in ofder to discover where the trouble lay, they found that in soffle placcs When the bridge Avas built somo shoddy and iniperfect Avood had been put into the foundatious. And a great deal of the feason for the instability and the inSecurity of life to-day, and the" laek of pehce in tiie hearts of people, is because there is something shoddy about the foundations. The Only Boofc of Stability: I want to say that religion is Ihe only foot of stability ili tiie world, and iii tiie ieafts and souls of nien, Mafi caiinot live without aii inner stability. If ydti Want M engine to flin pfoperly it iiinst be bililt dOWa Upon a holid, coMfete bed, othefwise, when yon start to wofk it,

it will shake itself to bits "in. the process. That is what is happening in the wofld to-day. People are liviiig 6t 6 terrific pfessure; there is so muCh hurry and fush ixi life, hnd there is tio deep foundation. The machine of life i3 not bolted down to something solid; and, therefore, in many Cases, it is simply going to pieces. That is the real root of mental instability; it is because of the lack of relgion. Matt needs something t6 fest his life tipon, Something to rest his iife tlpon as he fiidves through this World, and When he has not got it h# begiiift to gO to pieces, Y6U ask any psyefioldgist, He will tell you that the foot of the trOtible in fifty to Sixty per eent. of ihe cases that he treats is the lack Of feligious faith. H6 may not believe in feligiotls faith himself, but he believes in it fof his patients. He knows that it is Ofily in that feligious' faith that he cah flad the way to recovery. "If you belieVe in God you will get bettef; if you d& ' not believe in Hirri. yon Will not gelt bettef."" Beal religion is at the roOt of every stable aiid strong personality. You cannot face life with all its despair with any kind of optimism, you canttot say to anybody, "Do not be afraid. Be of good cheer/ ' uiilesS you can say also, "Have faith in God. ' ' — dTrom the Ghfistian World Pnlpit.