James 1:2-3 (NLT)
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
Most of you reading these devotions know me. You all understand that one of my best friends is a writer who has been dead since the sixties. His writings and thoughts have powerfully moved me even as a kid. While many of his quotes are fitting on this topic (Piper even used dozens in our study), it wasn’t the words of C.S. Lewis that snatched my attention toward the end of chapter one. But those of Augustine. I share them with you now…
“How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose…You drove them from me, you who are true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure, though not to flesh and blood, you who outshine all light, yet are hidden deeper than any secret in our hearts, you who surpass all honor, though not in the eyes of men who see all honor in themselves…O Lord my GOD, my light, my Wealth, and my Salvation.”
May we all be able to echo this as we experience the pains of joy.
P.S. To my fellow Inklings, the C.S. Lewis quotes will come. Stay tuned.
