Fulfilling His Joy

Fulfilling His Joy

Read: John 17:13-19

“I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them.”

John 17:13-14

“The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is unbelief.”

—Leslie Weatherhead

IN WORD At least two things are clear from these verses: Jesus intends for His disciples to have “the full measure” of His joy; and He intends for them to have it even while the world hates them.

Both of these themes are common in Scripture. The Christian life is to be an exceedingly joyful life. There are abundant blessings in the household of God—His mercy, His protection, His provision, His purposes, and more. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3). For this we can be thankful and rejoice in everything, for this is always God’s will for us (Philippians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:18). There is no doubt in God’s revealed Word that tremendous joy is on His agenda for us.

And yet how many of us fail to experience that joy! Is it the trials that come to us? Awareness that the world does, in fact, hate us, just as Jesus predicted? Do our own failures convince us that we are outside of the gospel of joy? Jesus’ last words to the disciples before this prayer give us both sides of this coin, as well as the answer to how we can experience joy in our trials: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

IN DEED Does joy elude you today? If so, though you are not alone by any means, you are not setting your gaze on the Christ who has overcome the world. The Savior who lives within you is the same Savior who went through ultimate hardship and gave us a firm hope above and beyond it. His promises are abundant, and they are real. He does not offer us joy without a concrete basis for it. Count on it, rest in Him, and experience His joy in “full measure.”