| Things to Live For |
Chapter 3 |
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Some people are unwholesome in their affections, giving way to envy, jealousy, and suspicion, unmistakable symptoms of unhealthiness. Some are unwholesome in their temper, lacking the power of self control, permitting anger to dominate them and lead them to unseemly outbreaks. Some one says: “Losing the temper takes all the sweet, pure feeling out of life. You may get up in the morning with a clean heart, full of song, and start out as happy as a bird; but the moment you are crossed and give way to your temper, the clean feeling vanishes, and a load as heavy as lead is rolled upon your heart; you go through the rest of the day feeling like a culprit. Any one who has experienced this feeling knows, too, that it cannot be shaken off, but must be prayed off.”
These are suggestions of common phases of unwholesomeness. A wholesome life is one that is free from these and other unhealthiness. It is hale and whole. Good physical health ought to make it easier for one to have also mental and spiritual health. But in fact many a person whose bodily health is excellent is very unwholesome in disposition, while many a physical invalid possesses a most wholesome spirit. Ofttimes radiant souls live in diseased and suffering bodies.
One mark of wholesomeness in a life is cheerfulness. It is not without its burdens, its cares, its trials; but it has learned the lesson of victorious ness. Nothing breaks its glad heartedness; nothing chokes its song of joy. The peace of Christ in the heart is the secret of it. There is an Old Testament promise which says: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” There is a New Testament word which bids us be anxious about nothing, but to make every want known to God in prayer; and then promises that the peace of God shall guard our heart and our thoughts in Christ Jesus.
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