2 Timothy 1:4 – Joy Comes
3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, 4 greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy…
Drawing from the deep well of David's Psalm 30:5 assurance that sorrow may last for the night but that joy comes in the morning, Tim Keller extends in Songs of Jesus, "While God can be angry with his people, anger is never the final word, and so joy is always on the way, always coming to those who believe in him. In Jesus," Keller's sense of persevering joy builds, " this principle goes even further, to "sorrow PRODUCING joy."
Paul has the same sense of the continuity of the human emotional spectrum in 2 Timothy 1:4. He specifically calls to mind Timothy's tears. He knows life and distance are painful. He isn't a Pollyanna. Yet he, like Keller, sees times of sorrow and vulnerability as a means to a greater end, THAT he may be filled with joy.
We will study the specific fixation of his joy as we continue in 2 Timothy 1, God willing. But I want to hover over Paul's vocal allowance, similar to Keller's that joy will come. One reason we don't see through to the other side of them. We fear, in our pride, that if we allow sorrow to start, we may find reason to identify any more lasting way with that emotion.
What counselors call secondary gain is real. Perhaps once we are identified as one whose heart is breaking or broken, people will pity us and will not challenge us for our fleshly indulgence in other areas. If we seem burdened out of all proportion, people won't ask for help and risk from us.
If, even as we consider tearful moments, we judge them not worthy to be compared to the comprehensive joy on the other side, any short-term gains from wearing life's victim sign will not be very tempting. Even as grief comes like this or with a right to impose a night's obligation, it need not consume us. We don't grieve as those who have no hope.
With Chesterton in Orthodoxy, we can maintain our equilibrium. He diagnosed, "Man is more himself, more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing and grief superficial.” One day, though we experience sorrow in one relationship or one part of life, one day we will be FILLED with joy. Tomorrow might be the day.
Drawing from the deep well of David's Psalm 30:5 assurance that sorrow may last for the night but that joy comes in the morning, Tim Keller extends in Songs of Jesus, "While God can be angry with his people, anger is never the final word, and so joy is always on the way, always coming to those who believe in him. In Jesus," Keller's sense of persevering joy builds, " this principle goes even further, to "sorrow PRODUCING joy."
Paul has the same sense of the continuity of the human emotional spectrum in 2 Timothy 1:4. He specifically calls to mind Timothy's tears. He knows life and distance are painful. He isn't a Pollyanna. Yet he, like Keller, sees times of sorrow and vulnerability as a means to a greater end, THAT he may be filled with joy.
We will study the specific fixation of his joy as we continue in 2 Timothy 1, God willing. But I want to hover over Paul's vocal allowance, similar to Keller's that joy will come. One reason we don't see through to the other side of them. We fear, in our pride, that if we allow sorrow to start, we may find reason to identify any more lasting way with that emotion.
What counselors call secondary gain is real. Perhaps once we are identified as one whose heart is breaking or broken, people will pity us and will not challenge us for our fleshly indulgence in other areas. If we seem burdened out of all proportion, people won't ask for help and risk from us.
If, even as we consider tearful moments, we judge them not worthy to be compared to the comprehensive joy on the other side, any short-term gains from wearing life's victim sign will not be very tempting. Even as grief comes like this or with a right to impose a night's obligation, it need not consume us. We don't grieve as those who have no hope.
With Chesterton in Orthodoxy, we can maintain our equilibrium. He diagnosed, "Man is more himself, more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing and grief superficial.” One day, though we experience sorrow in one relationship or one part of life, one day we will be FILLED with joy. Tomorrow might be the day.
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