Category: joy

Not only did Jesus want us to have His peace, He also wanted us to have His joy. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (Jn 15:11) What was the source of Jesus’ joy? I think it all had to do with the Father. “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (Jn 15:9-10)

Jesus did not find obedience to His Father burdensome but rather the essential way to abide in a relationship defined by love. Oh if we could see that God is the source of all good gifts… joy, peace, hope, and love! Jesus even tied this gift of joy to the Father’s answer to prayer: “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name… Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (Jn 16:23-24)

Two-year-old John has become quite intrigued with manger scenes these days. In a friend’s home he recently found a “baby Jesus” with swaddling clothes that droop across the infant’s thigh. Having recently received a shot in his thigh at the doctor’s office, John is convinced that Jesus suffered the same painful experience. “Got shot,” he pointed as he held baby Jesus up for my inspection. It did look a bit like a bandage on the little leg, so I didn’t try to explain first century baby-wear. John’s mom, Terri, lets him stay at our house every now and then. Last week, when I arrived home from work, John stood at the door asking, “Go see baby Jesus?” When I said, “OK, let’s go,” you should have seen his reaction. John threw up his hands and danced around, then he grabbed my hand and we hopped in the car to drive to a manger scene not far from our house.

Somehow, I think Jesus wants us to have this child-like joy. He prayed before being arrested, “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.” How do I receive such a blessing? Maybe we sing the answer during the Christmas season: “Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room…” John the Baptist once said, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” Do I prepare room in my heart for the Giver of joy? Do I wait and listen for His voice? John the Baptist proclaimed a wonderful secret: “He must become greater; I must become less.”

Perhaps the Father would whisper a Christmas message to us today: “‘He rules the world with truth and grace…’ My Son is the only path to true joy. Let Him take His rightful place on the throne of your heart. Follow John’s example and become less so your Savior can become more. He will bring you to Me and your joy will be complete.”

“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord!’” Matthew 25:21

Merry Christmas!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3

Read the first two chapters of Ephesians and see what all God has done for us. I’ve been getting bad reports again from the doctor, but I just don’t think I’m going to worry about it. Susan is making me get an MRI because of some back pain, but I’m going to try to keep my mind on other things. We’re winding up school this week and our family’s busiest time of the year has arrived as summer camp begins, but I’m hoping to enjoy my work and trust God to help me do a good job.

I have every reason to praise God for this past school year. It started with bad news of cancer’s return, but God rescued me time and again. There were moments of pain, but there were many more moments of great joy. I’m grateful for another year to be a husband, a father, and a teacher. I’ve been able to be with friends here in Atlanta and I’ve been able to visit friends in far places. I’ve met new brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ and I’ve seen God’s tenderness to the poor and hurting.

When I read these chapters in Ephesians, I marvel that God chose to love me before the creation of the world! I am reminded, once again, that Jesus is everything. Without Him we have absolutely no hope. But in Christ, we have life, purpose, forgiveness, wisdom, understanding, and the Holy Spirit. God lavishes His grace on us. I like the word, “lavish”. He does not withhold from His children. His salvation is an amazing gift. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” This gift makes me want to serve the Father all my days. I was once dead… now I’m alive. I once followed the ways of the world… now I see His Kingdom. I was once separate from Christ… now I am close to Him. He is the Good Shepherd who walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death and whispers that we need not fear.

I want everyone to know this good King, the Prince of Peace, the Chosen One. He understands everything we will ever face on this earth and He delivers us from sin. We can’t even fathom what He did at the Cross to make the way for us to be part of His family. He gave everything out of love for us. And now He says, “You do the same.” I say, “But Lord, how can I love like You? How can I give myself away like You did?” “Have you given yourself to Me? Have you laid down your life at My feet? If you sincerely say, ‘Take my heart; take all of me,’ I will. I live in you! I will love through you. You will bear fruit through Me. And I will complete what I have started. Just keep trusting in Me.”

I usually don’t write these ‘journeys’ during the summer months, but if I receive news I need to pass along, I will. Thanks for your love and prayer. Keep your eyes on Jesus!

“… Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” So much of the wisdom of God is found in the Body of Christ. We get glimpses, but I wish we could understand it all. As a part of a local church, you have probably experienced aspects of the body. We know different ones have different gifts and each person is needed. One time I hired a whole staff of camp workers that were pretty much just like me. We had a great time, but no one could ever find their keys! God knows we need people around us with strengths we don’t have. When we humbly do what we’re good at and encourage others in their strengths, the body works. When the foot tries to do the job of the hand, we struggle.

We’ve also experienced the love members of a congregation have for one another. “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” I think it is more fun to be on the giving end than on the receiving end, but we usually don’t get to choose our circumstances. Love builds up the wounded. Acts of kindness help a hurting member make it through a day. Often the giver may not even know he made a difference, but God knows how important the little things are. I received a beautiful card from a family in Chattanooga yesterday. I have never met this family, but they are friends of my brother and learned of my sickness. Since they are connected to my brother, they are connected to me, so they blessed someone they didn’t even know.

For some reason God has allowed me to experience another aspect of His Body that is hard to explain. The Body of Christ is all over this world and though we’ve never met most members, we are connected. This morning, a beautiful young lady who teaches school in her African country, Namibia, e-mailed me to say that she and all her friends were praying for me. She then relayed the Scripture from Joshua that says to ‘be strong and courageous’. How did she know that is what I needed this morning? Last week, a native of India we met through The Voice of the Martyrs, a ministry that serves the persecuted church, called from his Indian home to check on me. He asked if he could pray for me over the phone. Somehow I knew God was also connected with that phone conversation. I have heard from members of the Body who live in Jerusalem, the Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Canada, Brazil… and I realize I am no more special than anyone else. Every member is precious to God! We are parts of His Body… He cannot forget us. Yes it pleases Him when we reach out and bless the hurting, feed the hungry, care for the sick, and visit those in prison. But these acts of love within the Body reflect the awesome love of the Father. And if, for one reason or another, I find myself in a place of suffering where no one even knows I’m hurting, His love is no less.

We know Jesus suffered once on the Cross to redeem the world. Somehow, though, Paul knew that the sufferings of Christ were not finished. “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” (Col. 1:24) When a member of the Body hurts, Jesus hurts. When we serve one another, we serve Him. When the world sees love, the world sees Jesus… and God receives glory.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” I Peter 1:3-9

Susan’s uncle died this week and we attended his funeral in Huntsville, Alabama. While fighting cancer three years, Curtis had a peace that can only be attributed to our Creator.

I pay close attention at funerals these days, often wondering what mine will be like. Susan, Taylor, and I talked about this on our way home from Alabama. Taylor suggested I make a video myself telling funny stories and play it for those who gather. (He sometimes has strange ideas… 🙂 )

The world shies away from discussions of death, but who will escape it? Apart from God, I guess there is good reason to hide from the subject, but Christians should not be afraid. Death to a Christian is the door to a promise. Besides, why should dead men fear? “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”

I have great joy thinking of the life that is to come, and I should have an even greater joy realizing the life I already have! One perfect Man embraced a cruel death to bring eternal life. He now bids us die with Him expecting a promised resurrection. Michael W. Smith wrote a song entitled, I CAN HEAR YOUR VOICE: “I’m in the river that flows from Your throne – Water of Life. It covers me and I breathe again. Your love is breath to my soul. I can hear Your voice as You sing over me and I breathe again. It’s Your song of hope breathing life into me. I can feel Your touch as I come close to You and it heals my heart. You restore and renew.”

I think I hear His voice sometimes. And His words make me smile.

“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God and trust in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions and I am preparing a place for you. If I am doing this, then you know I am coming back to take you with Me so you can be where I am. Until then, I have given My Spirit to guide and comfort and teach and remind you of all the things I have said. I also give you My peace. Remember, I don’t give as the world gives. So don’t let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14

These words come from Psalms 42 and 43: “My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’ Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?” Such tears, indeed, are difficult to bear, but where do they drive one who refuses to believe his God will abandon him? More words from these two Psalms: “Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember You. Then will I go to the altar of God, my joy and my delight.”

If we allow our tears to lead us to the throne of God we may receive a different type of tears – not those of pain and suffering, but ones of thanksgiving and joy. I can’t pretend to know the pain involved in having a baby, but the most incredible tears I’ve ever seen were in my wife’s eyes as a newborn baby rested in her arms. Were her tears of pain worth those beautiful tears of joy?

As Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for His death, He used this truth to explain the things they would shortly experience. As He has promised to return again, perhaps these words are also meant to encourage us. “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” John 16:20-22

If I had not known tears of pain, sorrow, and bewilderment last year, I would not have known tears of a different type. I cried when my youngest brother stood before a church in Chattanooga and shared that he admired my faith. I cried when family members and many others volunteered to donate blood, bone marrow, or anything else that might help me live. I cried often as cards, calls, and e-mails revealed how many people were praying for me. And I remember the tears one sleepless night when God showed me in a very clear way how the One who holds every star, every moon, and every planet in place also held every cell of my body in His hands.

It may be a couple of weeks before I get to write again. May any tears that come your way this week be ones of joy and thanksgiving for all God has done. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His Name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5

How we need the perspective of Jesus about death! Knowing it was an enemy, Jesus came and faced the penalty that entered the world through man’s sin. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”

Though we often just think of the physical, Jesus sees death from an eternal point of view. As close as I may have been to physical death last year, there was a time when I was worse off. I didn’t look bad. I was healthy and strong. I was popular. I had everything a man could want, but Jesus knew I was dead. When one sees himself in such a hopeless place he cries, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

If someone discovers a cure for cancer, we will all rejoice, but there is a far more deadly disease at work in this world…and people seem to pay little attention. Sin kills. “The wages of sin is death.” But Jesus came to raise the dead! Do you hear His voice?

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

If we are intrigued by such words and want to follow, He tells us we must count the cost: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

And if we claim there are more urgent matters at hand, Jesus says hard things: “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.”

And if we follow a while, we hear even harder things: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”

If we resist the temptation to walk away, knowing there is no other place to go, we shall find He really is the only One with words of eternal life. And we shall discover we need not fear. “‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I Corinthians 15:55-57