Gospel Joy

God is the God of all grace – ‘grace that does everything for man who deserves nothing’, and joy is at the heart of grace. Grace is God saving sinful man. Joy is his delight and pleasure in doing so. This he shares with the sinner he saves. In the Greek the word for grace is charis and for joy the word is chara – these show clearly their affinity with each other. Where grace comes it brings the joy of the Lord and as we ask for and receive more grace we experience more joy. Joy is that irresistible quality which lustres all life’s events with the superlative bliss of God’s presence and favor.

Imagine if we lived in the light of the joy that Henry Tyler talks about in his book, Jump For Joy. I think we would be slower to anger and quicker to forgive. I think we would realize that our life isn’t determined by our feelings, but by the joy of God found in the finished work of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Where the gospel is truly believed it produces great joy… The fact of the matter is that joyless Christians and, likewise, joyless churches are contradictions in terms.

Let’s walk and live in the gospel that fills us with joy in everything we do.