Wednesday, 14 September 2016

Devotional 14/9/16 – John 15:11-12 Complete joy

06:30 Posted by Matthew Beaney No comments

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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