Jesus promised his disciples three things: they would be absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble. -F.R. Maltby

This is a fair summary of the New Testament church. We must embrace this paradoxical theme of joy and woe as one in our Christian life.

What we must not do though is allow our “woe” to be confused for the “woe” of the Gospel. Some people have a bad life and are unhappy. Instead of dealing with the latent cause issues of their soul, they transpose their own unhappiness into a “martyrdom complex” for the Kingdom. Such never bears fruit.

We need to be at peace with our own soul, dealing with our insecurities and hurts. Get happy! Then we can bear tribulation when it comes for the sake of the Gospel.

And all the while, let’s remember what we have been given is exactly that–GOOD NEWS!