AN ATHEIST WON BY OBSERVING CHRISTIAN JOY

AN ATHEIST WON BY OBSERVING CHRISTIAN JOY

In pre-Communist days, Chang Po-Ling was perhaps China's greatest educator. For years he was a Confucian atheist. Gradually he became so oppressed by the awful prevalence of evil and suffering, and by the seemingly insurmountable problems of China, that he was thoroughly despondent and pessimistic. Finally he opened his heart to one of the Christian professors at his great university, C. H. Robertson. "I notice," he confessed, "that you Christians seem to have some

hidden source of joy and peace and power. What is the secret?" The outcome of that and subsequent conferences was a glorious and radical conversion to Christ. From that moment he was a radiant, fearless witness and an uncompromising Christian leader.

But Chang Po-Ling was not won by the theological arguments of the Christians. He was not won by their splendid morality -- he could match that himself. He was not won by their dedication to their work, for he was just as dedicated to China's youth as they were. But he had discovered that they had theology and morality and dedication -- plus. That plus was joy. And it was the plus of joy that won this great Chinese soul. He sensed that a religion which could give its disciples the calm radiance of true inner joy even in the midst of chaos must be divine. If Jesus Christ could do that for them, he wanted Jesus to do it for him. And He did.

Once again we need to be reminded that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." For personal victory, yes, but for soul winning too. Let us therefore refuse to allow Satan to rob us of our joy and thereby blunt the "cutting edge of our witness. God can use our learning and eloquence, to be sure; He can use our labors and sacrifices; He can use our money and our talents: but it may be that sometimes He can use our simple joyousness to tip the scale in favor of victory when all else fails. Let us not deprive our Lord of one of His essential tools for the building of His kingdom. Let us not foredoom our evangelism by pouring into it everything but joy. Let us rather search and find the secret of joy so deep and steadfast that it cannot help but glow in our faces and shine through our lives. Then men will say, "Where is this fountain of life which you have found?" -- "Joy for Dark Days," hdm0245, by Richard S. Taylor