Current Christian experience of joy is a real, Spirit-produced happiness based on what the future holds. This contradicts current Christian practice at times, which often asks – how can I be happy now? And in asking that question, it asks for changes in circumstance or emotion or experience.
The problem is this: if you come to Christ, you will suffer. You will have to die. You will have to kill stuff in you that you like. You will have to choose to hate things you love. And God will cause that. But only if you want him more than you want self – which is a want only he can produce. And it’s a want that’s based on what is promised in the future – the very presence of God – secured by what was accomplished in the past – Jesus’ death and resurrection.
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