How can I sustain this grace of joy, which only comes from the Lord? By desiring and responding to a greater relationship with God than I have now. By choosing to love no matter the cost. By turning away from sin and living as fully as possible the Gospel life. By giving thanks for all that God has done and given. By embracing the mystery of the cross in the daily moments of my life without taking my eyes off Jesus on the cross. By surrendering my life to Jesus, so that he is the full Lord of all that I am, all that I have, all that I will be. When Jesus is the center of our lives, then no matter what happens to us, we will not be shaken.
"Although you have never seen him, you love him, and without seeing you now believe in him, and rejoice with inexpressible joy touched with glory because you are achieving faith's goal, your salvation" (1 Pet 1:8-9)
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost, the Apostles, who were before fearful of the same fate of arrest and death, now boldly proclaim Jesus as Lord and Messiah. When they are threatened with punishment by the whip, "they left the Sanhedrin full of joy that they had been judged worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the Name." Acts 5:41).
Joy is the one of the fruits of our life in the Spirit. "The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of justice, peace, and the joy that is given by the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17). This joy is not the consequence of a passing high, or singular event or fleeting moment or temporary relationship. This joy is rooted in the reality of God's perfect love for me and my imperfect, but real, love for him. As nothing but sin can separate us from God's love, then nothing but sin can separate us from the joy of being loved by God. Even though God's love continues to be poured out upon me, sin places a block to my receiving that gift of love. Sin causes an emptiness in my life, an emptiness which deprives me of joy.
But praise be Jesus Christ who is the source of our joy! In him we live and move and have our being. "To him whose power now at work in us can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine"“to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations. world without end. Amen.
