“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
John 15:11 NLT
These words from the Gospel of John are part of a long quote of the words of Jesus before, during and after the Last Supper. At this point, Jesus and his disciples (with the exception of Judas Iscariot) have left the upper room and are heading to the Garden of Gethsemene.
Jesus knows what’s coming, and despite having told the disciples what will happen soon, they’re still in need of teaching. In this chapter of John, Jesus is about to leave them so he’s telling them all about living life in him.
Jesus makes a point of telling them just how much He loves them, “as the Father has loved me”, and to “remain in my love”. How do the disciples accomplish this? They “obey my commandments” just as Jesus obeys his Father’s commandments and remains in His love.
That abiding love results in complete joy for the disciples, and for all believers since then. My favorite 19th-century preacher, Charles Spurgeon, explains this incredible joy in his usual perfect way:
“God made human beings, as he made his other creatures, to be happy. They are capable of happiness, they are in their right element when they are happy; and now that Jesus Christ has come to restore the ruins of the Fall, he has to bring back to us the old joy, — only it shall be even sweeter and deeper than it could have been if we had never lost it.”1
The formula for joy is actually quite simple: understand that you are unconditionally loved by Jesus, and you can remain in that love by obeying His commandments. Add to that the knowledge that your destiny is to spend eternity with Jesus, and your joy will overflow!
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I thank you every day that the joy of the Lord is my strength. Help me to live in You always, so I may be joyful, fruitful, and bring abundant glory to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)