• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Quotation Tim Keller on joy in suffering

Tim Keller on joy in suffering

Posted on March 14, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment


Keller Walking with GodThe grief and sorrow drive you more into God. It is just as when it gets colder outside, the temperature kicks the furnace higher though the thermostat. Similarly, the sorrow and the grief drive you into God and show you the resources you never had. Yes, feel the grief. There is a tendency for us to say, “I am afraid of the grief, I am afraid of the sorrow. I don’t want to feel that way. I want to rejoice in the Lord.” But look at Jesus. He was perfect, right? And yet he goes around crying all the time. He is always weeping, a man of sorrows. Do you know why? Because he is perfect. Because when you are not all absorbed in yourself, you can feel the sadness of the world. And therefore, what you actually have is that the joy of the Lord happens inside the sorrow. It doesn’t come after the sorrow. It doesn’t come after the uncontrollable weeping. The weeping drives you into the joy, it enhances the joy, and then the joy enables you to actually feel your grief without its sinking you. In other words, you are finally emotionally healthy.

Tim Keller in Walking with God through Pain and Suffering


Filed Under: Quotation Tagged With: joy, Keller, suffering, Tim Keller

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Mirror

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall . . .

What would cause enough joy to make the pain and suffering of the cross worth while? Something that could provide that much joy must be something of extreme value. It must be something that is worth obtaining.

Rest in God’s Goodness

If I cast the burden on God he promises to sustain me. The bottom line is that either this promise is true or it is not. I can choose to believe it or I can chose to disbelieve.

Longing for a home I’ve never seen, Part 2

In the internet age there is so much information flying around that a news source has to be extremely sensational to get any attention. The easiest stories to sensationalize are negative ones, ones that show mankind at its worst. Wars, shootings, traffic fatalities, child neglect and abuse, government failure and general stupidity are regularly featured.

On corruption in government

A quote from Augustine stimulated some thoughts on how Christians should respond to government corruption and the willful deceit of the people.

School Prayer

Thoughts on Prayer inspired by C. S. Lewis

The desperate posts in the great battle often are given to those whose faith is strong enough to weather seemingly unanswered prayer. So says C. S. Lewis in the essay on which this post is based.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
June 2023
SMTWTFS
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930 
« May    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in