The Christian's Joy and Grief: Rejoicing with Others

Romans 11:15 commands us to "rejoice with them that do rejoice." The selfish man grieves more over dyspepsia or the loss of five pounds than over the destruction of nations. He is a ruminating animal, forever chewing the cud of private joy or grief. The Christian, by contrast, follows God as a dear child, for Elohim "looked upon all that He had made, and behold it was very good."

The Christian's joy flows in three directions: First, he rejoices in creation itself—in the happiness of lower creatures and the beauty Yahweh has fashioned. Second, he rejoices in pure human joys, as Christ attended the wedding-feast at Cana of Galilee. Third, he rejoices in the kingdom of God's progress—every conversion, every act of kindness, all tidings of good being done in any part of the world.

Equally, the Christian grieves—over the sins and sorrows he encounters, and over the world's suffering when he enters into the koinonia (fellowship) of Christ's sufferings. A shallow nature has small capacity for either joy or grief; a deep nature trembles with sympathy for human gladness and sorrow everywhere. The Christian possesses both deeper joy and deeper grief than others, because his heart has expanded to embrace a wider life. He understands that mankind are connected together in manifold ways, and the happiness or misery of one profoundly affects the happiness or misery of others.