Happiness can get boring, because it is the satisfaction of our desires, and we know what we desire. (Can you desire what you do not know?) Joy never gets boring because it transcends our desires and surprises them with gifts.

I expect that in Heaven, the angels will sing Bach, and they'll envy us our understanding of Beethoven. The unfallen angels don't have to go through the first movements of the 9th symphony to get to the Ode to Joy. But we do.

God's highest agenda is not our immediate happiness. I believe that God is much more committed to our eternal joy, our spiritual growth, and the condition of our hearts.

God's highest agenda is not our immediate happiness. I believe that God is much more committed to our eternal joy, our spiritual growth, and the condition of our hearts.

Let us consider this settled, that no one has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection.

Death is no punishment to the believer: it is the gate of endless joy.

God weeps with us so that we may one day laugh with him.

Many people seem to want this epitaph: "I led as painless a life as possible." But the purpose of life is not to avoid pain. That is the purpose of an animal's life—but animals cannot know happiness.

Obstinate was curious and asked, "What are the things you are searching for that can't be found in this world?" "I'm searching for a joy that does not fade," replied Christian, "a secure inheritance in Heaven that cannot be corrupted and will be given at the appointed time to those who earnestly search for it." He held out the book in his hand. "Don't take my word for it. Read it in my book."11

Oh! The second Eden will be far better than the first! In the first Eden the door was not shut; our joy was just for a moment. But blessed be God, in the second Eden the Lord will shut us in.

We are taught to remain in God's love so that we won't tie our happy to anything but God.

No grief has a right to immortality. That ground belongs to joy, to hope, to faith.