THE JOY OF LOVE – THIS IS THE PLACE OF GLORIOUS REST

John 15:11 – These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

How many songs have been written about falling in love? Finding someone to love and to spend your life with is a major part of the human experience. All sorts of games are played wondering if the person who has grabbed your affection has the same sort of feelings toward you. When you finally discover they love you just as you love them you would have to say that is a day packed with amazing joy. So I suppose you could say that joy and love are closely associated with one another. In a similar way the moment you taste the love that Jesus has for you, you become consumed with supernatural joy. Discovering that He loves you changes your world, His love fills you to overflowing with the joy of the Lord. Here is how Andrew Murray describes this joy that comes from God’s love.

“That My joy may be in you–We are to have Christ’s own joy in us. And what is Christ’s own joy? There is no joy like love. There is no joy but love. Christ had just spoken of the Father’s love and His own abiding in it, and of His having loved us with that same love. His joy is nothing but the joy of love, of being loved and of loving. It was the joy of receiving His Father’s love and abiding in it, and then the joy of passing on that love and pouring it out on sinners. It is this joy He wants us to share: the joy of being loved of the Father and of Him; the joy of in our turn loving and living for those around us. This is just the joy of being truly branches: abiding in His love, and then giving up ourselves in love to bear fruit for others.”

To be loved by God is quite shocking and disarming. We have always seen love as somehow connected to our appearance, behavior, or at least our talent and what we bring to the table in the relationship. That’s the way it is with human relations but it is not like that with the Lord. He loves us despite our shortcomings and apparently loves us just because He wants to. That’s the surprising nature of the love of God and only intensifies the joy. This is the new life we have been called into, our response is just to say yes and abide in His love.