Bringing Joy Like a Fool
While ministering there will be times when we come across scenes and situations where we don’t know what to say or do. Watching families living in and depending on the city dumpsters is hard to grasp and would leave anyone speechless. Seriously, what are our options? We cannot carry all those beautiful kids home in our backpacks, bring a Thanksgiving dinner type of meal to all the families, or provide a solid roof that is not made out of random trash, even though that’s what we all wanted. God is joy, joy is God, and bringing joy is our option.
There are many words that could describe the harsh reality of people depending on the city waste. One guaranteed word that would not describe it is rejoice. Even we, who are just witnesses, had feelings of weeping, lamenting, and sorrow for the people who live this kind of life. In John 16:20-22, while announcing His return to the Kingdom, Jesus told the apostles that they would have a moment of sorrow while the world felt joy, but that sorrow will turn into rejoicing. This is a joy that no one will take away from them because He will overcome all sorrows, He will overcome death, and He will make that joy eternal.
One of the most important elements for bringing joy is to have it within us and to live deeply in it. We have to live by what we preach. In John 15:10-11, Jesus told us that by keeping God’s commandments and remaining faithful in God’s love, He lived in that joy. More amazingly, in verse eleven He finished by giving us an invitation to that joy: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
My desire today for all you dear readers is to live in the faithful joy into which Jesus so lovingly invites us and to bring that joy forward. Like in Isaiah 52:7, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.'” For our God is greater than any sorrow, He heals all kind of wounds, and He calms all weeping.
