Our Joys and Sorrows Are Temporal

Let those who mourn be as though they're not mourning. My wife and I, our first child died after she was born. That could dominate a Christian's life and put you into bitterness and doubting God and being angry. The deepest sorrows in life can make you bitter. But when you have the deepest sorrows, you're to have a perspective that God reigns. He's over this. He's with me. This is not going to last. I am going to have the heart and the perspective that these sorrows are temporal and they're not going to last. Let those who sorrow ultimately see themselves as they're not ones that are going to be sorrowing for long. That's really what he means. And the reverse is true. Those who have the highest joys - a baby's born, a new marriage, a phenomenal opportunity, great experiences with the Lord, joy unspeakable full of glory, deep assurance, God's deeply working in your life - the greatest joys. Step back. Keep perspective. Don't depend on those joys. Don't think they're always going to last. Don't get addicted to them. Don't live on experience. Live for eternity as if you didn't need the joys. Let those who rejoice live as though they're not, as though they don't have to rejoice. Can you walk with God when you have no joy? The Bible's not all about joy. The Bible's about Jesus Christ. So how do you do with your eternal perspective about your life when you have the deepest sorrows? When you have the deepest joys? Truth unchanged, unchanging. You're marked by eternity, not by the highs and lows of the Christian life or the highs and lows of this earthy life. Change will come.