Feel like I've been in a season of trying to reconcile
an abundant life of deep, unshakable joy in the Lord and being
like Him as a man of sorrows.
Such a peculiar divine tension.
No one in their right mind pursues sorrow. No one wants to live in a state of
mourning. But our Jesus was acquainted with grief. And rightly so. He is and
was perfect in every way. He is and was holy while on this filthy earth. It’s
like the Queen of England wearing her finest ensemble and hanging out in a pig
pen, with pigs chewing on her pearls. How depressing. But worse, of course,
because King Jesus came to HIS own creation and He was not received or even
recognized. The rejection was personal. Man rejected the very One who—even in
the moments that He was being rejected—sustained his breath.
And He says to us: Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the poor in spirit. All of these thoughts come to mind and challenge many of my notions of what life in Christ is really supposed to be like.
Jesus Christ is the greatest joy ever known to mankind. He is who our souls were created to be satisfied in. The depth of joy in Him is difficult to even describe because it is so unlike anything the world offers. It cannot be compared to a sweet friendship, or a mother’s devotion, or a favorite team being down and winning in the end. It cannot be compared to being swept off my feet by a godly guy, or making a lot of money, or being recognized at work. It cannot even be compared to doing the kind of good deeds that instantly are applauded and admired. These things are joyful and can satisfy to some degree, for some time. But knowing the One who knows everything about me and loves me DESPITE these things, knowing the One who is perfection and beauty at every angle and being given the access and permission to come before Him and worship Him, knowing the One who has prepared a place for me to dwell with Him—sinless forever, what words can I even use to describe how unbelievable it is?
At the same time, we are most like Him and experience more of Him when
suffering. He was a Man of sorrows. He knew He had come to be rejected. He knew
that so many would misunderstand, others would be jealous, others indifferent
(which is perhaps the greatest of all insults), others just plain angry, and
still others who would perceive in Him worth, but foolishly assume their
possessions would bring greater happiness. Ironically, the ones who found Him
to be glorious, righteous, and true were the ones whose
opinions didn't matter to the rest of the world. Like being the new
kid in school and only being liked by other rejects. Almost worse than not
being liked at all.
What impresses me about the Lord (you know, besides EVERYTHING about Him) is that
He doesn't pretend that it doesn't affect Him. He really
did grieve. It really did hurt Him to be not esteemed by people He
loved. He suffered it even though He was so beyond it. He knew His own worth
and even His own power to change His situation and still He took it.At this point it looks as though deep joy in God given by His Spirit and the sorrows that describe the life of Christ are in contradiction. We may imagine that we cannot live with both. But I’m coming to realize that we must live in both—joy and sorrow.
Joy because nothing can touch us. People can only kill our bodies. No one can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. We have been rescued from the holy, hateful fury of God that we deserved for our sins. The anger has been absorbed. The punishment has been taken. Justice has been served, and served on a silver platter. Evil is used by God in our lives to bring good to us and glory to His name. The enemy is His puppet and has no power over the One who now lives in us. His Son saves us continually and sings over us as a mother does to her little ones. His Spirit fills us, guides us, corrects us, leads us, flows in us, and flows through us to bring life to others.
But sorrow because we live in a world where the majority of people continue to
despise the One who is worthy of all worship and glory. We live in a world
where sin divides homes and corrupts men and rapes women and bullies children
and convinces us that it is better to worship creation over Creator. Sorrow
because the only Answer to it all, the only Hope of every human on this planet
is not known by a third of the earth’s population. Sorrow because most of the
ones who claim to have this Hope spend their lives comfortably repeating the
message of hope to each other—but in new ways—often while pursuing the same
earthly comforts as those around them. Sorrow because multiplied millions of
women are being raped 
20 – 30 times a day by
men who could care less about them or the wives and children they have at home.
Sorrow because calamities wipe out entire communities, as the creation
continues to groan, and because hunger has swallowed up so many children in the
most forgotten places on earth.
It would be less painful to be indifferent. To be far removed. To change the channel. To avoid these news articles. To create a world where everything is happy and keep fingers crossed in hopes that no one who is part of that happiness gets cancer or is taken in a car accident. But we are called to mourn. Yes, I said it. We are called to suffer. If we are really serious about becoming like Jesus and getting close to Him, we will be ready to become as one who is acquainted with grief. And the greater the suffering, the more intense the joy will be at the thought of such a glorious and eternal hope as we now have.
Joy and sorrow perfectly coexist when we, like Christ, endure our cross for the joy set before us. When we can rejoice at the Father’s revealing of Himself to the simple, and weep over Jerusalem’s pride in refusing Him. When we can celebrate with those have been found by God and are accepted by faith in Christ, and mourn with those who prefer to live for worthless idols. When we can delight in worship and yet grieve over those who have yet to know such Beauty.
We must be
a people who is sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. It only makes sense. We
rejoice in the hope that the sorrows are temporary. That, in fact, the
sufferings are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all
comparison. That the sufferings of this present world are not worth comparing
to the glory that is to be revealed to us. Suffering with Jesus guarantees that
we will be glorified with Jesus. So that in the midst of pain, we rejoice. And
in the midst of joy, we seek to bring this hope to those who suffer and assure
His suffering people that we are rejected because He was and we will triumph
because He has. Feeling His joy must remind me of how indebted I am to the
world to bring the news that in Christ all suffering is temporary and
meaningful. Feeling His pain must remind me of how indebted I am to the world
to bring the news that in Christ all suffering is temporary and meaningful.
So this is it. The abundant life in all of its divine tensions. Full of pain, carrying the grief of many, mourning with those who mourn, enduring a cross of sorrow—yet full of joy, spreading the Hope to many, rejoicing with those who rejoice, awaiting a crown of glory.
