Happiness, joy, and the cross

John Mark Reynolds has written an outstanding essay on how the long-term benefits of Christian discipleship come at the cost of short-term pain:

My non-Christian friends often wonder if they will lose happiness if they adopt Christian ideas. Let’s not kid anyone: there are things Christians don’t do. Some of those things are pleasurable and nobody likes to lose pleasures!

So yes, becoming a Christian costs happiness and promises pain. We are not the religion of the Cross for nothing.

Amen.