To Encourage You

John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

One of the greatest blessings that come to those who are students of the Word of God is joy.  In John 15 Jesus tells us that the reason that He has said the things to us that He has said, it that we can have the same joy that He has.  He calls this “full joy.” 

People seek joy in many ways.  They may seek it in hobbies, relationships, or in all the pleasures money can buy.  They also seek it in the pleasures of sin – and there are pleasures in sin – thus its great appeal to us.  However, any of the pleasure or “joy” found in the pursuit of these things is always short-lived  (even if that pleasure lasts for all of our short lifetime).  Whatever the “joy” or “pleasure” that one derives from the pursuit of things other than Christ and His Word, it cannot compare to the joy that Jesus possesses and that He has offered to us through a relationship with Him and the knowledge of Him.  The joy from all other pursuits is short-lived and limited.  It is never enough to fill the soul, and it will most certainly end – either sooner or later. 

In contrast, we are told in God’s Word “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”(Psalm 16:11).  The path of life, the presence of God, and the fullness of joy that results come to us through diving deep into the pages of Scripture.  It is here, and only here, that God has chosen to make Himself known to us.  It is here, and only here, that we can find what Jesus called “the things I have spoken to you.”  No wonder Job had the perspective “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).  No wonder King David said of God’s Words “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).  And then there is Jeremiah, who wrote these words: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16).  Peter, who walked and talked with Jesus for three years said this: “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). 

It’s a consistent message from some of the wisest men who ever lived.  May God help us to give heed to their words.  May God help us to not neglect His Word, and thereby miss the greatest things the Creator of the universe has prepared for us and longs for us to have.