What Brings You Joy?
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1: 1-4)
I always love this passage when I read it. It truly shows what it means to share with others the gospel. Verses 1-3 is all about sharing the gospel that they have experienced. They are sharing first about how they have experienced it and they now have become testimonies of Christ through the experiences they had with him, however it doesn’t stop there. They want to share their joy, they want to share their experience. They do find joy in Christ, however it hasn’t been complete until others know how great the father is and having fellowship with him is the best thing that they have experienced. Their hearts of pure joy. As Christians we are called to be witnesses of Christ and to share the gospel, share the good news out of an overflow of our love and joy as we have fellowship with God, the Father, and Holy Spirit! This is what pure joy looks like. I am imagining people jumping up and down not being able to control their emotions. I want my love for Christ to be like that! I want to be overflowing with love and joy that it becomes uncontainable in my heart!!!! My life must be or want it to be a testimony of Christ, and joy is increased by sharing with others!!!
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? (Luke 9: 23-25)
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12: 1-2)
Journey to the Cross is a difficult Journey, but worth it!
“God is not just showing up after the trouble and cleaning it up. He is plotting the course and managing the troubles with far-reaching purposes for our good and for the glory of Jesus Christ.” (John Piper)
