Joy of the Lord

Joy is a Choice

/ pastorpete51 / 5 Comments 
Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3 NIV

Who doesn’t want joy? From a thousand book titles to the theme of a million Christmas cards, the word joy beckons us towards this seemingly elusive feeling. But the Bible’s concept of joy, is not a feeling that comes and goes in our lives, but a command to embrace just as we embrace our children, on both their good days and bad. But the Bible doesn’t ask us to blindly jump up and down when things go awry. Today’s verse gives us tells us that we can rejoice because trial teach us perseverance. I am reminded of when, as a teenager, I worked in a factory that producing copper tubing. When the tubing first arrived, it came in 5-inch diameter, thick-walled tubes, each one being almost 20 feet in length. Our job was to take those rough tubes and extrude them into much smaller precisely manufactured pieces. But first, the copper had to be annealed. Annealing is a process of rapidly heating the copper in a furnace and then immersing it in cold water. Without annealing, the copper remained hard and impossible for us to work with. But once the annealing was completed, the tubes were softened, so we could they could be extruded into the various sizes our customers needed.

Trials are what God uses to anneal our character. Before facing trials, most of us are too overconfident and proud of our own abilities for God to use us to serve others. But I have found that He is an expert at using circumstances to heat up my world, and then just as things seem unbearably hot, He turns things around plunges me into cold water. When the shock of these changes wears off and I turn to God for help, I discover that though my situation has not altered, somehow, miraculously, God has changed my own heart. The desires, dreams and goals I held so tightly to earlier now have been replaced by His and a peace, greater than I can understand. Then I realize that God has got me right where I belong, and a joy, that no one can take away settles in my soul.

Joy

/ pastorpete51 / 4 Comments

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice! Philippians 4:4 NIV

I love to feed the birds who hang around our community. Now, for the, “Don’t feed the birds” purists, know that I don’t do this every day. But about once every week, while out on my walk, I bring any leftover bread from a restaurant meal or leftover crackers or chips from our small group meetings. Last week, my wife and I brought a bag of some stale corn chips, but when we arrived, only one lonely Ibis was standing by in the usual place where I feed them. So, we smiled and said something about his being the lucky Ibis and began tossing out the crumbled chips. But our lonely lucky recipient wasn’t alone for long. Almost immediately, as if by magic, first one, then another and finally thirty in all were joyfully pecking at place where we had distributed their little treat.

Their joyful abandonment at the few crumbs we passed out that afternoon made us really laugh and reminded me of today’s verse. Even though those birds weren’t receiving anything of eternal value, they joyfully danced about, making sure they didn’t miss even the tiniest crumb. They sorted through the tall grass, wove their way through the crowd of feathered friends and thoroughly delighted in what we gave them. That reminds me of how Jesus told us that we need to pay careful attention to how His Father delights in feeding the birds. Now, we are far more precious to God than sparrows, ravens or Ibis, but He uses them to teach us a lesson on joy. So often we lose our joy when things don’t go as planned, we don’t reach the goals that we had set or we face difficulty, suffering and sorrow. But the difference between joy and disappointment, contentment and anxiety is that we want to dictate what is on the menu. We overlook that God has a daily bread planned for each of us and it isn’t stale, leftover crumbs. The details of our day have been carefully chosen by Him, just for us. Our job is not to dictate the how and when of His provision, but to joyfully seek out every crumb that He has set before us. Things were not always joyful for Jesus while He was on this earth. But the Bible tells us that, seeing the joy that was ahead of Him He endured the suffering of the Cross. While there was not a single detail of the day of His death that anyone in their right mind would consider joyful, Jesus found what others missed. A lost thief, a hardened centurion, a frightened disciple, a grieving mother and a crowd of enemies each received a blessing from Him. He could still give joy because He saw the joy that lay ahead of Him. He finished His time here on earth with the joy of knowing that He had finished everything that the Father had sent Him to do, and that one day all of us who trust in Him could join Him in Heaven and rejoice forever in His presence!

Unspeakable Joy

/ pastorpete51 / 2 Comments

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 1 Peter 1:8 KJV

I love that, Peter, who had walked on water with Jesus, seen Him transfigured on the mountain and had a meal with Him after the resurrection, intersects with our world. Peter encourages us that even though we will never have the privilege of seeing Jesus with our own eyes, that it is God’s plan for us to experience a glorious unspeakable joy. I confess that most days, I miss out on that joy. I get so preoccupied with busyness, problems, or sorrow that I forget about Jesus. Like Peter did on the day He walked on water, I get my eyes on the wind and waves, or when I do experience a little of His glory, I end up sidelined by religious duties as Peter did when he offered to build three tabernacles on the mountain while Jesus stood shining before them. But, just as Jesus waited for Peter, after fishing all night, so He waits for you and me. No, we will not see him through the morning fog on the beach, but we can see Him through eyes of love and faith on the shoreline of our situation today. Jesus still walks out on the wind and waves to our boats, waits at the manger and lingers outside the empty tomb until the eyes of our heart recognize Him. Then – oh the joy that enters into the holy place of our hearts! Though not seeing, if we simply believe, God has promised to give us an unspeakable joy through all eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!