Joy is the Norm

February 10, 2015

Joy is the Norm

“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy.

John 17:13

When Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he was addressing those who come to realize that our spirits are broken and separated from God by sin. Jesus said these people are blessed because he offers healing and wholeness for our broken spirits. Through his healing we “become a new person” (Matthew 5:3 & 2 Corinthians 5:17). However, it is not only our spirits that are broken. We also have broken emotions and broken bodies. While our new life in the spirit is instantaneous the moment we believe, our emotional healing and the healing of our bodies may take a lifetime, and may not be fully realized until the Age to Come. I thought about this truth this morning as I read Jesus’ words in John 17.

Most of the people who encountered Jesus in the Gospels experienced exceeding joy. Sometimes their joy was simply cheerful, as when they toasted and danced at the wedding in Cana, or when a multitude found more than enough food for all as they gathered to hear Jesus teach. For others, their joy was beyond their wildest dreams as Jesus raised their loved ones from the dead. Still others responded to Jesus with an incredibly beautiful and intimate joy as they anointed Jesus. (See Luke 7 and John 12) My point is simple; joy is the norm for the followers of Jesus.

However some of us, like me, are joy challenged. A lifetime struggle with depression has left me with an inner sadness as my default position. Even so, when the church sings, The Lord of the Dance, there is within me a smoldering wick that wants to get up and sing and dance with my Master. My dreams to fully experience life filled with the joy of Jesus may have to await the coming again of Jesus, but I will not relinquish my grip on Jesus’ promises, and together with the Apostle Paul, “this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14 NRSV).

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms is available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ  is available as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.