In the concluding chapter of Getting Rid of the Gorilla, Brian Jones admits that, odd as it might seem, it was through his struggles with forgiveness that he learned the spiritual discipline of joy. He states that at some point in our lives, even in the midst of problems that seem to have no fix, we will face the choice between bitterness and joy.
William Penn, in his classic book Some Fruits of Solitude, clearly identifies the reason why this choice is such a conundrum: “We are apt to call things by wrong names. We will have Prosperity to be Happiness and Adversity to be Misery; though that is the School of Wisdom, and often-times the way to Eternal Happiness.”
Adversity makes it possible for us to hear the voice of Jesus in fresh, new ways, enabling us to transform our lives as we focus our lives and ministries on eternal, rather than temporal, happiness.
