A Satisfying Religion
"He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness" -- Psalm 107:9
Through his own personal experience and through his close contact with the great masses, General William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, knew the kind of religion it takes to satisfy the human heart. He defined it as consisting of four things: First, a sense of the conscious favour of God. You feel that God loves you, that He holds you in His arms. Second, the consciousness that He has made you good. If the world poured into your lap all its wealth and honours, you would be a miserable creature unless you knew that you were good and honest and true and pure. Third, the consciousness that you are doing your duty to the Lord and to those about you. Fourth, the assurance that all is going to be well. There may be difficulties in the way now, but if we have the assurance in our hearts that all will be well in the end, it will bring satisfaction.
These are things we all long for. At least in our more sober and quiet moments. We want to be in favour with God. We want to feel that we are what we ought to be, and that we are doing what we ought to do. In the midst of the trials and troubles of our present life we want to feel that there is a better and happier life beyond. These things represent the deepest and most persistent longings of our souls. The only satisfying religion is a religion that will answer these longings.
There is such a religion, and that religion is the religion of the Bible. The religion revealed to us in the Bible does indeed satisfy all these longings. It answers every want and aspiration of the human heart. It tells us of a God who "satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness." It tells us how to make the most of the life we now live, and how to make sure the life to come. And this satisfying religion we can all have without money and without price, on the simple condition that we put our trust in Christ and submit ourselves to Him as our Lord and Master.
