Friday the 15th

John 16: ²²So 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.

 

Christ new He was leaving this human world. He knew that His time was short, and that those who followed Him would feel lost. Ahh but the words of comfort do always follow. You will rejoice…..no one will take your joy away. What brings that joy? What safe guards our happiness? It is not anything this world has to offer, actually our true joy comes form the very thing hat the world wanted to take away. Christ is the answer, and just as He promised, once you see Him again, no one can take your happiness. Look How Jesus framed that statement. You can go all the way back to the original text in Greek, you can read any translation currently available, that phrase has not changed, and the truth of it holds true to this day, and every day forward. No one will take away your joy. No one, not one person, nothing will take your joy. You know Jesus made many statements like this, you will be saved, you will be full of joy, you will be successful…..we know one thing for sure, Christ is not a liar. You can read all that has been written about Him, you can read all of His teachings, you will not find one place that He contradicts Himself, or one place that He is made out to be a liar. So what does that mean? If all this is true then (and it must be because Christ told us) why are we not successful? Why are we not full of joy? The answer is very simple, yet hard to grasp. Christ makes all of these things available to us, but we either give them away, or we choose not to take them. Oh I hear you now…. What? Excuse me? If it was so available, why would I not take it? If I have it why would I give it away? I tell you the truth, You have Joy, we have the risen Christ in our hearts, He surrounds us, He is at our every turn. He fills our heart with Joy everyday. I want you to think about the last confrontation you had, did you leave feeing anger, did you feel slighted, or belittled? You just gave that person your joy. Are you chasing a promotion, or giving your all for that pay raise? You just gave it your joy. Did you believe that person when they told you that it could not be done? You just passed up a chance for your success. We believe the lies, we believe the negative, we listen to the trash talking, hate filled ridicule of the world, and we take it to heart……and we hand our joy over to the world, and become exactly what we fight against…..a joyless, hopeless, lifeless, lost soul. Why would you do that? Why would you allow anyone to take from you the one thing you are freely given? Joy, the Joy of Christ, the Joy of salvation, the joy of being counted as a child of God! It is yours, from the time you open your eyes, to the time you lay your head down at night, and every moment before and after that Joy is surrounding you. Does that mean that your life is full of roses? No of course not. But let me ask you something…..are people speaking poorly of you? They hated Christ. Are people trying to bring you down? They beat Christ. Are you seeing your dreams falling apart? They hung Christ on a cross until he was dead. Are you ready to give up? Christ never did. He never gave up on Himself, He never gave up on the world, He never gave up on His father, and He will never give up on you. He fills your heart with Joy every morning what you choose to do with it…..well that is up to you. You can focus on God, or you can focus on the negative. You can take comfort in knowing that Christ has already lived a life none of us would want to endure, as a result we have the joy of eternal life, or you can spill that joy on the ground, and fall victim to the world. No one can take your joy away. He is risen. Not one person, not one thing can’t take that joy form you. But know for a fact, it is yours to give away.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

 

www.theworkweekwithchrist.blogspot.com