Skip to content ↓

Today of All Days, Be of Good Cheer

Be of Good Cheer

Merry Christmas, my friends. May this day bring you heartfelt worship and tender joys.

On this day, I am pondering a lovely quote I found in one of De Witt Talmage’s sermons—a quote that calls us to not only be joyful at Christmas, but to see in Christmas proof that Christianity is a joyful faith. He means to counter the “delusion that the religion of Christ is dolorous and grief-infusing.” Here is how Christmas counters any such notion:

The music that broke through the midnight heavens was not a dirge, but an anthem. It shook joy over the hills. It not only dropped upon the shepherds, but it sprang upward among the thrones.

The robe of a Saviour’s righteousness is not black.

The Christian life is not made up of weeping and cross-bearing and war-waging.

Through the revelation of that Christmas night I find that religion is not a groan, but a song.

In a world of sin, and sick beds, and sepulchres, we must have trouble; but in the darkest night the heavens part with angelic song. You may, like Paul, be shipwrecked, but I exhort you to be of good cheer, for you who are trusting on Christ shall all escape safe to the land.


  • Original Sin

    Non-Political Lessons from “Original Sin”

    Like so many other people, I came to understand that I was witnessing something deeply significant on the evening of June 27, 2024, as Donald Trump and Joseph Biden met for their fateful debate.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (June 4)

    A La Carte: Failing boys and wrong men / A response to N.T. Wright on abortion / Breaking gender stereotypes / Beth Anne’s Bible / Brick by brick / Why I didn’t deconstruct after church hurt / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (June 3)

    A La Carte: The astounding persistence of life / To the single lady at the wedding / Love on display / Can women serve as deacons? / Bottled up tears / Logos and Kindle deals / and more.

  • What Does a Name Mean

    What Does a Name Mean?

    Few matters are more consequential to a man than his name, for a name has importance, a name has association, a name has meaning. The name of Caesar means power. The name of Herod means cruelty…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (June 2)

    A La Carte: Telltale signs of Christianity gone south / Evangelicals after Obergefell / What we can learn from the Josh Buice situation / Therapy culture from different generations / Unclean street dogs / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Substack

    One for the Substackers To Consider

    I do my best to maintain Inbox Zero. At least once or twice a day, I like to process my emails and take action on each one of them. Though this can be onerous at times, it ensures I stay on top of my correspondence. As I went through this process the other morning, I…