QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”

~ C.S. Lewis in A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken

“Perhaps his purpose is simply to draw us closer to himself in conscious communion with him; for it is often the case, as all the saints know, that fellowship with the Father and the Son is most vivid and sweet, and Christian joy is greatest, when the cross is heaviest.”

~ J. I. Packer, Knowing God

“Man’s happiness was never meant to be determined by his circumstances, and that is the fatal blunder that we all tend to make… We must come back to the soul and to God who made it. We were made for Him, we are meant for Him, we have a correspondence with Him, and we will never come to rest until, like that needle on the compass, we strike that northern point, and there we come to rest – nowhere else.”

~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981), Welsh minister and medical doctor

“The mass of men have been forced to be gay about the little things, but sad about the big ones. Nevertheless (I offer my last dogma defiantly) it is not native to man to be so. Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul. Pessimism is at best an emotional half-holiday; joy is the uproarious labor by which all things live.”

~ G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

“But in this world everything is upside down. That which, if it could be prolonged here, would be a truancy, is likest that which in a better country is the End of ends. Joy is the serious business of Heaven.”

~ C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer

SERMON PASSAGE

selected passages (ESV)

Psalm 37

4 Delight yourself in the Lord,

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Proverbs 12

25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down,

but a good word makes him glad.

Proverbs 13

9 The light of the righteous rejoices,

but the lamp of the wicked will be put out….

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Proverbs 14

10 The heart knows its own bitterness,

and no stranger shares its joy.

11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,

but the tent of the upright will flourish.

12 There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way to death.

13 Even in laughter the heart may ache,

and the end of joy may be grief….

30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh,

but envy makes the bones rot.

Proverbs 15

13 A glad heart makes a cheerful face,

but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed.

14 The heart of him who has understanding

seeks knowledge,

but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

15 All the days of the afflicted are evil,

but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.

16 Better is a little with the fear of the Lord

than great treasure and trouble with it….

30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,

and good news refreshes the bones.

Proverbs 25

25 Like cold water to a thirsty soul,

so is good news from a far country.

Luke 2

8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

John 16

24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.