The Lord Jesus says,
“I have said these things to you [to abide by my commandments] so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be complete.”
— John 15:11 (NRSV)
Within these red letters is the
reception of grace—living accounts of unmerited joy. When we are connected into
the true vine, being branches of obedience unto the Lord, we do truly attach
ourselves to grace—enabling the experience of living accounts of unmerited joy.
There cannot be a better vision
for living than living accounts of unmerited joy.
This is a joy—because of grace,
that is favour undeserved—that is truly unwarranted, but is given to us as a
free gift to partake in when we obey the Spirit of God as he ushers his will
into our minds and we accept it in our hearts.
This joy is the basis of the most
innate surrender. Real surrender is hardly a surrender at all because we want to surrender. We understand that to surrender to
God’s will is blessing—it becomes our will (John 15:7)—and, therefore, joy is ours to know in
advance, in reflection, and in the beauty of hindsight that we are on the right
track.
These living accounts of unmerited
joy God has predestined for each of us—those born to humanity. Agreeing with grace
is surely not a hard thing to do. We can only win. We can only be blessed. It
is ridiculous to refuse this gift.
As Jesus is perfect, and his joy
is perfect, so too is the perfection of joy to be manifest through us, even in
ways we cannot understand, but are just thankful for.
Joy redeems thankfulness and every
living way for gratitude. Suddenly with joy we have new sight; God sight. And
our faith grows as a result. Joy, of course, is sponsored by hope, and with
hope we can achieve anything that the Lord wills us to do.
What more need we say about this
blessing that is being poured over us as an anointing? There is so much more
that could be said.
But such a joy as Jesus’ joy need
only be experienced.
We do not deserve this joy but we
are thankful for it. That God stooped down in his perfection, and chose to give
us something of himself—his radiant joy—as something to behold eternally.
***
As Jesus is perfect, and his joy
is perfect, so too is the perfection of joy to be manifest through us, even in
ways we cannot understand, but are just thankful for. Grace is the reason for
joy.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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