Day 94
Alive
to Joy
…the
joy of those who abide in Christ's love is a continual feast. They are to show
their love to him by keeping his commandments.
Matthew Henry[i]
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biding in
God’s love is the secret to experiencing the joy we all desire, and the way we
remain in His love is to obey Him. Thus obedience is linked with joy. We can’t attain
joy by seeking it as an end in itself; it comes to us as a result of abiding in
the love that is ours in God through Jesus Christ. Our love for God exists
because He loved us first,[ii] and
so if the enemy can convince us that God couldn’t possibly love the likes of
us, we can be robbed of joy.
God is Spirit and we are flesh, and we are prone to draw erroneous
conclusions from these two facts. The enemy wants us to think we are worthless,
and that the only real value we hold to God rests in a spiritual reality that
can’t benefit us while we are housed in physical bodies.
To understand how deeply God loves us in our here and now, we need to
remember that Jesus was born and lived as a human being and died a human
death. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
became flesh, and walked among the human beings of His day. When we buy the lie
that, as physical beings, we have nothing in common with God, we must remember
that three days after our Lord’s physical body was killed, His physical body was raised to life! The resurrected Christ talked with His
disciples, ate and drank, and showed them His pierced hands and the wound in
His side. “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of
those who have fallen asleep…” (1 Corinthians 15:20).
This is a mystery we can’t comprehend, but we mustn’t fail to recognize
the great blessing of love behind it. God chose that His Son should come to us
in the painful, beautiful, very human way of childbirth as a physical
demonstration of His creative power and love. God brings light from darkness,
life from dust, and a squirming, screaming child from the dark and danger of
the birth process. He is the Creator, the joy-giver, the lover of our souls,
and He brings each one of us forth in a physical birth that is holy and
miraculous. His virtuosity is revealed in the miracle of flesh and blood, and Heaven
touches Earth as He places His Spirit in us.
There are no routine birthing stories; each of us is a miracle because every
one of us is a product of God's great love. Our heavenly Father rejoices
as He brings us forth, He loves us as we are placed in our mothers' arms, and
He watches over us all the days of our lives. We are each one of us
precious in His sight. We are beloved of God.
Pray: Lord, help me to rejoice in the fact that I am uniquely created and
uniquely loved by You. Help me to awareness of the ways You have treasured me,
provided for me, and loved me all the days of my life. Help me to bank on Your
compassion, look for Your provision, and rejoice in Your love. I praise You with joy, the joy of one who is
beloved. Teach me to abide and obey in Your love. Amen.
~~~
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide
in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be full.
John 15:9-11
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