The classic puritan Christian, Thomas Watson, eloquently shares his thoughts on the tension between the heart and the mind.

"The bare knowledge of God’s will is inefficacious, it doth not better the heart. Knowledge alone is like a winter sun, which hath no heat or influence; it doth not warm the affections, or purify the conscience. Judas was a great luminary, he knew God’s will, but he was a traitor."

“Knowledge alone is like a winter sun…” Superb. The sun is always hot, but its heat is not appreciated under a blanket of frozen water. Much like our minds, when filled with heat radiating knowledge of God and his word—it can’t do anything for an icy heart.

Thomas Watson affirms that both must be working for spiritual prosperity.

Matthew Henry writes:

“That is best for us which is best for our souls, though it be unpleasing to sense.”

The verse he had in mind when he wrote that was Ecclesiastes 7:3:

Sorrow is better than laughter,
    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

I had to scratch my head at that verse for a little while before I grasped what was in mind when it was written. The English language really makes things confusing here. It almost seems like a paradox—a ‘sad’ face makes a ‘glad’ heart?

But the concept he’s touching on here is much bigger than it would seem at first.

Our physical, temporal appreciation for life and our heart-gut level appreciation for it do not necessarily line up all the time. If we allow ourselves to sink into old, sinful habits, we may enjoy the temporal experience. But our soul is wincing in pain.

The argument is being made that often temporal discomfort is much better for the soul than anything otherwise. And what is better for the soul will make us truly ‘glad’.

I think this is a concept Americans have difficulty grasping because in our society of the middle-class, there’s virtually always a way out of any kind of temporal discomfort. I imagine that few of us can really understand what these writers are saying.