Oct
26
Written by:
Bob Flynn
10/26/2009 6:40 AM
A love that can never be fathomed;
A life that can never die;
A righteousness that can never be tarnished;
A peace that can never be understood;
A rest that can never be disturbed;
A joy that can never be diminished;
A hope that can never be disappointed;
A glory that can never be clouded;
A light that can never be darkened;
A happiness that can never be interrupted;
A strength that can never be enfeebled;
A purity that can never be defiled;
A beauty that can never be marred;
A wisdom that can never be baffled;
Resources that can never be exhausted. (Unknown)
"Now I am coming to You. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with My joy. (John 17:13 NLT)
But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. (John 17:13 ESV)
But now I am coming to you, and I am saying these things in the world, so they may experience my joy completed in themselves. (John 17:13 NET.)
I suspect that anytime the seventeenth chapter of John is mentioned, the first thought that comes to mind is that of unity and that is as it should be. But here in the midst of a familiar passage stands a nugget worth mining that of "joy completed!" Here we see the reason why Christ was so earnestly praying for His disciples. He Himself was not cumbered with anxiety about their future. Instead He herein provides a salve for their anxiety! We have been placed in the joy that is sourced in Christ Himself. What He has given cannot be taken away by circumstance nor by any power we may find in this world.
I listened to the PBS interview of RADM Barry Black, (CHC), USN (Ret), former Navy Chief of Chaplains and now Chaplain of the United States Senate. He shared that his worst day is a good day. Not because of what circumstances may be revealed but because of how it begins. It is his habit to awake from his slumber each morning and begin to pray Scripture. Then as he drives in his car to the Capital he listens to the Scripture read aloud on CD. He say that when he arrives he is ready to begin his day in ministry. Here is a man who came from the most meager of beginnings but because His godly mother had him and his siblings memorizing Scripture from an early age found his life directed toward this lifelong service. He says that he has never had any vocational conflicts. Rather he cannot remember a time when he did not want to be in ministry. So here stands one example of Christ's joy completed!