by Rev. Stanley Collins Glasgow, Scotland
THE SECRET OF REAL HAPPINESS
O ne of my favorite Psalms is the 32nd for it gives such a person al and a practical word of testimony which I’m sure many of you could share. It has to do with the joy of confessed sin, as well as the agony of soul when one does not keep “short accounts” with the Lord. To me this is a happy man’s song. Isn’t it a fact that most people are seeking true contentment and satisfaction in life? Abiding joy is clearly delineat ed in this Psalm. In these few verses I commend for your reading and earnest study, we are taken through the three stages of life. There are the past, present, and future. For total confidence we must have the settled assurance that all three of these areas are taken care of. Nobody under heaven, except the Christian, knows this. First of all, the Psalmist points out that the secret to real happiness is the knowledge of sins forgiven. There are more psychiatric troubles because of g u ilt complexes from which people suffer. Psychology clin ics are filled with those who have come for all kinds of treatment. To be sure, some have genuine mental disorders. A high proportion, how ever, are naturally burdened from the sins they have committed in the past. God is the only One who can deal with this and have it completely removed. He is the only One who can cover the iniquities in both thought and deed which have plagued your life. Think of the whole total amount of sin, so vast and so great, being covered by God. You see, when a man knows his sin has been forgiven, then his guilt is removed and cov ered. No wonder he can really re joice. In Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bun-
yan describes Pilgrim staggering up the hill with this great burden on his back, wondering how he will ever carry on. Eventually, reaching that sacred spot, Pilgrim felt the burden roll down the hill completely out of sight. He neither saw nor felt it any more. Do you have this knowledge that your sins are forgiven? You can’t forgive your own sins; your part is simply to confess them. I John 1:9 reminds us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Psalmist testifies that when he kept silent, his bones waxed old. Listen, the quickest way to age is to sin. The Christian isn’t a “killjoy,” but nothing will ever kill joy in his life like sin. Sin pays wages in this life as well as in the life to come. Even the ordinary pleasures in life lose their luster when the heart is not right with God. In verse five, Miss Judy Walker, senior student at Biola College and secretary of the Associated Stu dent Body, has an opportunity to ask questions of Mr. William Siemens, dean of Students.
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