The Way of Joy

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)

Here’s a thought.  If you do not have joy, then maybe you have not yet grasped what it means to be a Christian.  Remember that joy is part of being a Christian, but how much of our lives seem to be nothing but drudgery? Maybe we need to be better students, or even readers, of God’s Word, if we lack a regular, consistent life of joy.

Notice what Jesus says here, “I have told you this…”  I submit that if you are a conscientious student of God’s Word, then you will find that you have reason enough to rejoice, and you will have joy in the middle of your various circumstances. If we are only “sometimes” in God’s Word, we may only have “sometimes” of joy. The Christian should have consistent joy, and I think one implication we can draw from this verse is that as we are in God’s Word, so also will we have joy, and in that amount.

Let us observe also that Jesus is talking first about His joy being in us. What is the joy that we have? It is His own joy. It is the joy of Christ that He gives to His people. This has to be the best joy we could ever seek or desire. One of the joys of Christ is that the Father loves Him. We see this in many places in the Bible. (See John 3:35; 5:20)  But what does this mean?

A great part of Christ’s joy is that the Father loves Him, and Christ gives us His joy. This tells us that the everlasting Father loves the follower of Christ. God loves you. That’s the punchline. The joy that Christ gives, at least partially, is that the everlasting Father loves us. The ruler of the universe cares for you. If this does not fill you with joy and give you delight, then you simply don’t know Christ’s love, or don’t understand. His love is everlasting and infinite. It is beyond measure.

This leads us to one last consideration. The joy that Christ gives us is a “full” joy. If our joy is full, what does that mean? It means there is no room for more joy. We cannot find joy in the things of the world, because we are full of the joy given us in Christ. It also means there is no room for sorrow. If we are full of joy, then how can we make room for sadness?

Let us draw near to the Lord this day, and He will fill us with joy. There is a depth that real joy knows, when fellowship with Christ is deep. It can’t really be put into words, but if you have known it, then you know what I am talking about.

We can’t always have mountaintop experiences, but we can know them, and we can strive to often be reaching the peaks and heights of communion with Christ. It is an intense experience to go deep with Jesus. And the faithful of the Lord seek these times.

All too often we live in the valleys of the world, but Christ gives true joy to His servants, complete joy, and it should be our desire to seek “...the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Romans 11:33a) 

 

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