08/31/2017
Has Jesus given you a joy like His, or do you anticipate that you will one day have joy like the joy of Jesus? Well, I am going to burst your bubble and then give you a new hope regarding joy. Our anticipation should never be to have a joy like Jesus' because we won't have one like His!
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:10-11 ESV
I apologize for having done this, but I have toyed with you a bit. You are truly not going to have a joy "like" Jesus... no you are going to have the joy "of" Jesus. Not similar, not an imitation, not even an exact replica, but the actual joy that fills Jesus Christ.
How could we not have His joy when we abide within Him?
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”
John 15:4 ESV
I read a wonderful observation that Billy Graham made and I will share it with you now...
"It is Jesus, the vine, that produces fruit; and we, the branches, bear the fruit, including the fruit of joy." - Billy Graham
How incredibly revealing is that? The root and the vine nourish and grow the fruit; the branches merely support it. We provide space so that much fruit can be produced. We allow for the multiplication of the fruit of God... including Joy! So who's Joy did Jesus contain? Why of course He was filled with the joy of God.
“In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
John 14:20 ESV
So the root of the vine is the source of all joy. This explains God's joy being imparted to Jesus where it becomes the joy of Christ, and that selfsame joy then being instilled in us and becoming our joy. It is the same joy, just as all our gifts are the gifts of God manifest in us. No copies, not almost the same, but the selfsame gifts.
“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-6 ESV
Pause and consider this for a moment. How many times have you thought... "If I had the power of God I could overcome this_______." You can fill in the blank with any of those wishes you had. So once we receive a gift, and it is the same as God embodies, then what holds us back? Our lack of faith in the gift itself; our self-doubt, and our lack of confidence in God himself? I would say "Pick one." at one time or the other we are guilty of them all, and I am certain there are others!
But we are not given every gift. We only receive those we need in order to do His will, and to provide for the common good. We are meant to do God's will and we are also meant to be of service to one another.
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,”
1 Corinthians 12:7-8 ESV
Yet some are available to us all; gifts such as joy, and peace... among others.
Yes, our joy is His joy, and our peace is His peace; all we must do is obey the commandments of God, Jesus, and abide in His love.
Prayer:
Father I thank you for your joy that flows from you to Jesus and into me. Jesus, I thank you for being the conduit for the gifts of joy, peace, and others which we share. The happiness that I experience on my own can't compare with the joy you bring, and I praise you for your gift; for completing the joy that has been budding within me. Holy Father, nurture the fruit that hangs from me and never let me cease to bear it for your pleasure and glory. Prune me Lord that I might be bountiful. I pray that you never find me wanting or find reason to remove me from your vine.
Rich Forbes