It happened! The baby
is here! And this baby-wecloming, for the first time, found me in the hospital with Wi-Fi and the devices
necessary for instant access. There are
up sides and down sides to this seemingly ubiquitous technology, and that
debate should be saved for another day (she says, head down, staring at the
computer screen). The point is that with
the entrance of our beautiful daughter into the world, we were able to
immediately communicate that news to the waiting world (maybe I exaggerate),
and in response we got dozens and dozens of well-wishes and
congratulations. And it was FUN. There was so much joy in and of itself with
the arrival of our baby, but it was heaped up—overflowing—when we were able to
share it with so many people. It made me
think of Luke 15:10, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of
God over one sinner who repents.” We are
told to “rejoice with them that do rejoice.” And so I thought: If I can be this happy over
the physical birth of a child, what must God feel over the spiritual birth of a
child? And if I am encouraged by the joy
of my friends and family, what must the party in heaven with the angels of God be like?
Oh!
there is enough in the salvation of Christ to make heaven full of bliss; there
is enough to make us full of praise. Let us take up the theme; let us talk by
the way to one another about it; let us talk to sinners about it; let us
recommend religion by our cheerfulness. Levity be far from us, but happiness
let it be the happiest sphere in which we live if we have little else to
rejoice in, we have enough here. Whatever may be our condition or prospects, we
may still rejoice in God's salvation, and let us not fail to be filled with
this most blissful emotion.
