94 - Filled With His Joy

Possessions don’t bring joy. They break, get stolen, or we grow bored with them. Pleasure doesn’t bring joy. The more we seek it, the less we find. Entertainment doesn’t bring joy. Much of it leaves us feeling violated or sad. Trying to isolate ourselves from people or problems doesn’t bring joy. The more time we spend alone the more angry we become. We end up thinking far too much. So when Jesus prayed that we would be full of His joy, He was asking the Father to give us a source of joy that is totally different from all others. His prayer that night was that His source would become our source, and if we listen carefully to His prayer, we discover that He reveals His source. The problem is, His source is so different from all of ours, it can sound crazy until you try it. To find it we must walk in the opposite direction of where we would normally go. And isn’t that God’s way? To find life, we must die to self. To receive, we must freely give away. To be loved, we must learn to love others. And to be filled with joy, we must discover what it means to become “one” with God.