The Source Of Abundant Joy
Paul was speaking here
of the things that might seem likely to separate a saint from the love of God.
But the remarkable thing is that nothing can come between the love of God and a
saint. The things Paul mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close
fellowship of our soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But
none of them is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on
the spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the
undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on the
Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul said this is
the reason that “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” We are
super-victors with a joy that comes from experiencing the very things which
look as if they are going to overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would
frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a tremendous thrill for the surfer who has
ridden them. Let’s apply that to our own circumstances. The things we try to
avoid and fight against—tribulation, suffering, and persecution—are the very
things that produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through
Him” “in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A
saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of
it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians
7:4).
The undiminished
radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is not built on anything
passing, but on the love of God that nothing can change. And the experiences of
life, whether they are everyday events or terrifying ones, are powerless to
“separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:39).
Lord,
I praise You for the joy of my life here—for the love of wife and child, for
the students, for the favors of the Holy Spirit. What a wonder of joy and
radiant blessing this place has been!
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