One of the ways Jesus shows His great love for you is by telling you the truth. He doesn’t hide the hard things just so you can feel better. He knows that it is far more painful to have to wake up out of the lie. We will have our time of sorrow in this life. We will weep. We will suffer under temptation. The devil and the world will afflict us. Our flesh will fight and strain against the God-pleasing desires born in us by the Holy Spirit. No one can escape these things in this life. It doesn’t do anyone any good to pretend as though being a Christian in this life means freedom from or even less suffering. Christ did not deceive you. He prepared you so that you would not be caught off guard. But these things aren’t forever. Weeping endures the night, but joy does come in the morning. We will have sorrow now, but it will, one day, end and that sorrow will give way to the deepest and purest joy we have ever known. When our Lord returns and finally delivers us from this valley of sorrow, we will never know a single moment of suffering ever again for all eternity. And, what’s more, those things that now cause you to weep, you will rejoice to understand as having actually been the very best thing for you. Do not lose heart. Your sorrow is not eternal when your hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He stands before you now to fill you with the peace and comfort of His cross, the truth of your eternal salvation. I look forward to seeing you this coming Lord’s Day.
Pastor Ulmer