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SEPTEMBER: Life in Christ

September 16

FULL AND LASTING JOY

And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
1 John 1:4

The apostle is anxious that these Christian people, to whom he is writing, should have fullness of joy, though they are in the world, which lies under the power of the evil one.

Now that is the amazing thing that is offered and promised to us in the New Testament. It is by no means a message confined to this epistle. We see it in Paul's epistle to the Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice" (4:4). Our Lord promised in John 16:33, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." He described the world as an evil place, and He forewarned His followers what to expect from it. He said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you"; but His great promise was that He would give them the joy that He Himself possessed. There would be a period at the crucifixion and before the resurrection when they would be unhappy and miserable. "But," He said, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (John 16:22). He also said, "These things have I spoken unto you...that your joy might be full" (John 15:11) "the very word that John repeats in his first epistle.

That is Christ's promise, and perhaps there is nothing that is more characteristic of the book of the Acts of the Apostles than this very note. If you are feeling tired and in need of a spiritual tonic, go to the book of Acts, and there you will find this irrepressible joy that these people had in confirmation of the Lord's promise!

A Thought to Ponder
Christ described the world as an evil place, but His great promise was that He would give them joy.

From Fellowship with God pp. 23-24.




Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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