JOY UNENDING

BY PR EVANGELINE CHEONG

⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.           JOHN 15:9-11

Last week I wrote that there is no lack of hope in our new year with God as we have a living hope in Christ. But that’s not the only thing that we as God’s people have in abundance. Jesus tells us that we have His joy and when His joy becomes ours, it is a full and complete joy (John 15:11)

Isn’t a full and complete joy a great and wonderful thing to have in a time when we may be lacking physical contact with our extended family or church family, a lack of fun times out on vacation overseas or big birthday parties. For this joy from the Lord is not based on our circumstances (when COVID-19 disappears or when we can remove our masks and go back to our normal lives or when we get that job or life / school/ toy etc we want) but based on the joy of Jesus.

I sometimes fall into the trap that things of this world can bring me the real joy that I want. We all do that sometimes, thinking that if we just had one more gadget, one more dress, one more promotion, a bit more money, a boyfriend, that would give us happiness and joy. Yes it does for a while but that feeling fades away.

This joy is not mere positive thinking or a naive ”keep calm and carry on", but this joy of Jesus is based on His knowledge of the Father's love for Him (15:9) as well as His own obedience to His Father. (15:10) And it is precisely this joy Jesus wants for us to enjoy too! To know that in Christ we are loved and that in our obedience to the God who loves us, we can find great joy.

DA Carson says, "What is presupposed is that human joy in a fallen world will at best be ephemeral, shallow, incomplete, until human existence is overtaken by an experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus, the love for which we were created, a mutual love that issues in obedience without reserve.”

May this full and abundant joy of Jesus be ours in this new year, no matter what enters our lives.

“…the joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10b) 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy … in believing” (Romans 15:13)