Joy and Gladness

December 14

Joy and Gladness by Dr. D. James Kennedy

“I have spoken these things to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15:11

The Christian message is a message of joy. God gives us joy and gladness. The singing may sometimes switch to a minor key, but we still sing.

Even though there are many sorrows in this world, the Gospel message still provides the most uplifting and joyful words found anywhere. Countless people have attested to this over the centuries, including those who were killed for the sake of its message.

William Tyndale, one of the very first translators of the Bible into English in the 1500s was persecuted and martyred. Nonetheless, he wrote in his Prologue to the New Testament these words:

“Christianity is Good, merry, glad and joyful tidings, that makes a man’s heart glad, and makes him sing, dance and leap for joy.”

A man who accepted Christ after a woman from our church shared the Gospel with him, told me of his great joy.

“You certainly cannot know,” he said, “you cannot imagine the indescribable joy I have known for the last year since I came to know Christ. I never would have believed it.”

Joy is what Christ brings to the human heart. Christ is no cosmic killjoy, a wet blanket on the party of the world, as some people think He is. Rather, He is the source and fountain of all real joy.

How is your joy linked to your faith?

Perhaps the best way to describe the impact that joy has upon faith is in the words of the Bible itself. In Nehemiah 8:10 it says, “The joy of the LORD is my strength.”

HIS JOY strengthens the faith of believers’ and enables them to “count it all joy” when they suffer for CHRIST.