Joy

 

1/20/2021

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

There is a six-part documentary series on TBN called Inexplicable. It is about the spread of Christianity across the globe and throughout the ages, despite religious persecution and the rising and falling of civilizations. I would highly recommend it.

Yesterday, during one of the episodes, the experts were discussing what drew people to the early church. The one thing that was said that hit me like an arrow straight into my heart was that the disciples of Jesus exhibited true joy. That was a compelling thing to many people, and they sought to find the source of such glorious joy. So, the early believers drew others into the fold because of the joy they had in their relationship with Jesus. This truly struck me and made me ask myself, "Do others see the joy that can only come from God in me?" 

I would imagine, especially in these troubled times, many feel that joy is difficult to come by. We seek joy in temporal and tangible ways, but that is not where the source of our joy should come from. We, as believers, should find our source of joy in having a relationship with Jesus. We should find joy in the fact that we can come before Almighty God in prayer because of what our Savior did for us on the cross. We should find joy in His mercy and eternal love. If I am only focused externally, then I will only see what this world has to offer and am bound to be disheartened. However, if I am focused on things of the Spirit and my relationship with Jesus, actually being grateful for the magnitude of His love for me, than I will find true joy. 

We can all agree that people need Jesus. So can we leave the trappings of this world behind and, like believers over 2,000 years ago, draw the lost of this world in with our joy in the Lord? 

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