Christian Joy 1 John 1:1-4 What brings joy to your soul? In this life, what things or circumstances cause you to rejoice? It may be a new car, a new house, a new job, or even a new friend. Everyone feels periods of happiness or moments of elation. Yet these are all temporary circumstances and conditions that diminish and eventually pass away. What is true joy, and why is it emphasized throughout the New Testament Scriptures? Joy has been defined as a feeling of pleasurable emotion and exaltation caused by the expectation or realization of some good thing. So often, Christians simply look at the temporal factors of life; and while we do indeed find some measure of joy in them, we must realize that genuine, lasting joy comes from something (or Someone) much higher than earthly sources. We must understand that the joy that lasts-the joy that will never abandon us-arises from having a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this comes only as we know Him through the Word of God. John tells us he has written his epistle so that our joy may be full (v.4). How can this be accomplished? The apostle John tells us in verse three: It can be true if you have a relationship with the Father through the Son. If this is true in your life, then a relationship with other believers flows from this because a relationship with God is shared in common among the brethren. This is why we should always desire to be around and among brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are a source of joy, or they should be, if we are all walking in the Lord as we ought (v.7). We return to the question posed earlier: What brings you joy today? Are you finding your joy in the Lord?
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 23:02:19 +0000
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