As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in
my love just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in
you and that your joy may be complete.
John 15:9-11
Joy
is not just being happy. It is so much
more than that. Happiness too often
depends upon our circumstances. Joy
comes from something much deeper than that. It is not dependent on the world
that surrounds us.
Joy comes from
the Lord. It comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is anchored in Him and what He has done
for us. We need to regularly recall exactly what Jesus did on the cross and
what that means to us: Eternal life instead of eternal damnation; Assurance of
who we are: children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Jesus came to
give us a way to God that we could never do on our own. We could never be good enough, or do enough
good deeds, to earn our way to Heaven.
Jesus gave up
his magnificent position in Heaven to enter our world as a little baby born to
a poor family that had no claim to fame or fortune. He grew up as a regular little child, working
with His earthly father; learning as all children do. In a miracle that we
cannot really understand, He was fully God and at the same time fully a
man. He got hungry. He hurt. He
suffered. He bled. He died. Just as a regular man.
He took on this
humanity so we could identify with Him. After His death he ascended back to
Heaven and the Father where He is today, on His throne.
In today’s
scripture, He says that His joy can be our joy! How can this be? He
wants to share all that He is with us. He wants to fill us completely with His joy!
Are you allowing
this to happen to you? Are you obeying the Father’s commands because you love
Him just as Jesus obeyed the Father God? All love and all joy can flow to us if
we love and obey the Lord! What a
Savior! What a Father!
Dear Heavenly Father. I do not
understand your kind of love, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart for
it. Fill me with your love and your joy. Help me stay in a right relationship
with you for this to happen. I long for this, Jesus!! Amen.
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