Woo Hoo! God loves me and God loves you. This thought should give us tremendous joy! Christians are supposed to be a happy and thankful people. We have so much to be thankful for. First of all, our God and Savior created the beautiful world we live in. All we have to do is step outside and look around us to see the majesty and glory of God's creation. What a blessing to have such a lovely world to live in! This is just my opinion, but I believe that God not only made it this way for us to enjoy now, but also so we would understand and imagine (as many of us do) that if earth is this beautiful, how much more beautiful will heaven be? Woo hoo! It gives us hope and helps us understand that living for God faithfully will be well worth it.
As Christians, we are also thankful that "God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. That word should is conditional. We have a choice to make. Each of us do. "Should not perish" is not a promise. It implicates action propelled by our belief. That is our choice - to have the kind of belief that compels us to love Him enough to obey His commandments. You see Jesus tells us in verse 17 "For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through might be saved." Jesus says we might be saved --another conditional word. Another implication that a choice is involved in obeying Him - from believe to repentance, confession, baptism and living a faithful life of following Him.
So we read of the great love He has toward us; but can we even begin to comprehend why or how God could give His Son for the whole world of sinners? It is also difficult to take in the fact that Jesus Himself was willing to go through the pain and agony of the crucifixion. The sacrifice of Christ should grieve our hearts when we think that our sins are what put Him on the cross. At the same time, we are to be eternally grateful for the awesome gift of His blood for the washing away of our sins. As we reflect on our sins, hopefully we repent, obey and then rejoice in our salvation. After all, the angels in heaven rejoice over sinners who repent. We can never be thankful enough. We can however understand that His death for us causes us to "present our bodies as a living sacrifice." Romans 12:1 Since Christ died for us, how can we do anything else except LIVE FOR HIM?
The resurrection of our Christ is a third reason for rejoicing in thanksgiving. Yes Jesus suffered death on the cross and we should remember that no other religion has as their founder someone who died for our sins and they certainly have no one who conquered death and rose to live again! The resurrection of our Lord is the final triumph over Satan. It is the anchor of our hope. Christ still lives; just as God is the one and only true and living God. Christ promises us that we will live too - if we follow Him. If we allow Him to reign in our lives now - He will allow us to live with Him in eternity as He reigns in heaven. Woo hoo! Isn't that a wonderful thought?
Think about the good news of the gospel. Remember how excited and full of the Spirit the apostles were in the book of Acts. Remember how the first Christians ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart? Why? Well, Peter tells them why -- Acts 2:24 "whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it." Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." The resurrection of Christ is truly a cause for great joy! He is on the right hand of God, who has put all things under His feet and He is waiting for us to join Him there!
The rejoicing doesn't stop here. Jesus' blood was also shed to build His church, established on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. The church was established so that we would not be alone in our beliefs and so that we would have others to worship with, to fellowship with, to help us fight our spiritual battles, to help us grow our faith. Yes, God and Jesus knew what they were doing when they built the church. We can rejoice in the majesty and omniscience of God for understanding that we would need support as faced living in the world every day.
Yet another cause for great joy -- for our feeling of great happiness -- for our woo hoo --is the fact that Jesus promised us an abundant life. Jesus gives us this promise in John 10:10 - "The thief cometh not but for to steal and destroy: I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." Now, I know that Jesus has promised us an abundant eternal life, but I think this verse also refers to our life here on earth. I believe this with all my heart because I have experienced it first hand! OK, you might be saying, "Now Robin - why do you say that? Did you come into a bunch of money or find the fountain of youth or what?" The answer of course is no. I am not financially wealthy - - far from it. And I am getting older every day just like the rest of you. I have simply experienced the incredible joy of serving our Lord!
I have seen prayers answered which has built up my faith. I have experienced the joy of watching people give their life over to Christ as they are baptized to become Christians. I have fallen in love with the Word of God. I have had the opportunity of being kind and helping others from time to time and through this I have learned it truly is more blessed to give than recieve. The older I get the more I understand that living the Christian life is the absolute best life to live. Great joy and happiness are found in walking with the Master. That is the abundant life!
So you see, whatever happens as we live out here in this dark old world, we can find joy in Christ. The apostles faced persecution from the world. Yet they were thankful and found joy even in their persecutions. That is what Paul means when he tells us to Rejoice always! - which is a commandment by the way. You see, God wants us to have woo hoo moments in our lives. Those who find joy in Christ are mindful of Him (and God) as our creator. They are thankful for and truly enjoy the beauty of God's creation. They are humbled because of Jesus' great sacrifice, yet find joy in the fact that His sacrifice takes our sins away. They get so excited when they think of the resurrection of Jesus and the promise that brings. They have experienced the abundant life. No wonder they are joyful and happy.
So what about you? Do you have that kind of joy? Are you living the abundant life?
And can you woo hoo?
Christ above all things,
Robin
No comments:
Post a Comment