Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “The New Covenant Life”. As I studied this lesson, the word “joy” in Sunday’s lesson intrigued me. As Christians, what is our “joy”? Many non-believers, criticize Christians because we seem to have “joy” in a future state, not in anything related to the present. And this complaint makes a measure of sense. As Christians, should not our “joy” be evident today? And of course this leads back to my first question… “What is our joy”?
Please research this. The book of Ephesians give us some clues. As does 1 Peter. But the ultimate answer may be in Jeremiah 9:24.
So as you study this, you may realize that our “joy” really has little to do with an eternal life. Our “joy” is really about being like the “One” we love. And any “Joy” in a future life is not really about an endless life. It is about being with the One we love. And so that “joy” begins now as we become intimately connected with the “One” we love.
This concept is touched-upon in Sunday’s lesson. And this is so important. Our love for God must lead us to love those He loves, too. Else it is likely not love for God at all. The “vertical” relationship between man and God must establish a “horizontal” relationship between man and man. As John tells us, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). And keeping His commandments is to love.
As we read about the “New Covenant Life”, the promises to us that give us such security, peace and joy in our intimacy with our God must lead us to look a little higher towards our brothers and sisters who know not that peace, security and joy. For the essence of our “joy”, the fragrance of our “joy”, is love. Love that will sacrifice even our eternal security for the “other”. If not, that peace will become selfish and narrow. That “joy” will putrefy in the coffin of its own death. Confined to ourselves, that “joy” will turn inward, shrivel and die. Because “joy” can only thrive in the sunshine and invigorating atmosphere of love for God and love for our fellow-man.
May we learn the lesson of love from our Father of Love. And may the Everlasting Covenant of Love between us all be strengthened and eternal, is my prayer for us all.
With brotherly love,
Jim