Some Christians are never happy unless they are miserable!
Jesus says that He wants His joy to be in us. He goes further and says
that He wants our joy to be ‘complete’! Sounds good!
How do we live in this joy? Many would see the pursuit of pleasure as
the path to joy. As Christians why do we sin, why do you sin? Sam Storms has
written,
‘We sin because we enjoy the pleasure it brings. We sin because it feels
good. We sin because it brings a thrill to our bodies, fleeting satisfaction to
our souls and excitement to the banality and boredom of our everyday lives. We
sin because we believe the lie that the pleasure it brings, though passing, is
more satisfying than the pleasure obedience brings. Thus the power of
temptation is the false promise that sin will make me happier than God can. As
John Piper has said, “Sin is what you do when your heart is not satisfied with
God ”The fight against sin is, therefore, the fight to stay satisfied with
God.’
Sin promises us joy. Jesus confronts us today with the promise of joy in
keeping His commands, in particular to love each other. Why would this lead to
Joy?
Firstly, a
community that love each other in a Christ-like manner will help each other to
have joy. Such a community support the lonely, the sick, the poor etc. among
them.
Secondly, the Holy
Spirit is pleased as we love God and others. To such people He will fill with
joy. Joy is found in being whole-hearted for God. The half-hearted who hold
back their devotion to God and His community will lose out on the joy that
could be theirs.
Let’s embrace the promise of joy to those who pursue righteousness!
To meditate/pray upon
John 15:11-12 ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and
that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other
as I have loved you.’
Matthew 5:6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be filled.’
You can catch up on all the messages in the
John series at:
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