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NASB | Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad a heart may be happy. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, For when a face is sad (deep in thought) the heart may be happy [because it is growing in wisdom]. [2 Cor 7:10] |
Bible Question: A non-christian friend i have asked me about Ecclesiastes 7:3-4 She if christians are supposed to be sad all the time. I replied with a no, and a bible verse about rejoicing. She says that this is a contradiction, but i know that there is something i'm missing about history or context. Please help with my confusion!! |
Bible Answer: Dear kt, As John MacArthur puts it, joy is "the flag that flies on the castle of the heart when the King is in residence. Only Christians can know true and lasting joy." Douglas Wilson writes, "This discipline of joy and Christian laughter is essential, and it must come from comprehending the culmination of God's kindness to us in the resurrection of Christ... the doctrine is really the soft rain of grace after the thunder of the law. In a parched land, the goodness of God's salvation falls wonderfully, and predestination is simply a glorious redemption given from the hand of the Lord. It is not surprising that the effect it has on men who understand it is that of a redeemed gut chuckle. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, ... 'amid all [Tyndale's] severities there is something like laughter, that laughter which he speaks of as coming from the low bottom of the heart.' This is a laughter which comes naturally -- the fruit of the grace of God is joy and gladness and laughter." You might want to read John Piper's sermon on a Quest for Joy: http://www.desiringgod.org/library/what_we_believe/quest4joy.html In Him, Doc |