8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
Being joyful is one of life’s greatest pleasures. And yet, we all too often don’t take the time to enjoy the joy. Out of our relationship with Jesus can flow a joy that defies words. This joy is so great that it is impossible to contain it in these limited human vessels. This joy overflows and connects us to our future experience in heaven. You see, heaven is a place of joy. When we think about and experience the joy of our salvation, the realization of the penalty for our sin that we no longer have to experience because of the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf, we can get overwhelmed with a joy that floods us to our deepest parts, our very soul. At those moments we are touching and experiencing heaven’s joy. So why, if this joy is so glorious, do we not bask in this joy all the time? Well, in order to have this joy we must exercise faith. Remember, we have not physically seen Jesus nor the events of his life and death. We must take the word of others who were there. We cannot put these people on a witness stand and cross examine them. We must trust. We must step out and begin to experience the forgiveness with less than a full account. We have questions that won’t get answered and yet we must trust. And for so many, trust has been broken in some very painful ways in the past by people they could see, so trusting someone they don’t see can seem insurmountable. And yet the reward of trusting is so great that trust is worth the effort. When my wife and I were dating she had to trust that our marriage would not end up like so many in her family and friends. Her view of marriage was being colored by the failure of others she trusted. She knew what the ideal looked like, (her parents remained faithful to each other for over 60 years), but had difficulty seeing that ideal for herself. And now 28 years later we still have to trust that the other will be there. And because we continue to trust, we get to experience a full and rich joy, one that often defies words. It gets captured in a glance, squeeze, whisper, smile or even a sticky note. And the joy seems to grow day by day. How much more in our relationship with the Lord! The more we know Him, the more our joy grows. If you joy is not growing, perhaps you are not as close as you think. Draw in closer. The joy is there.
The Arnold Journey 