May 11, 20232 min
Holding a child gives a joy that is unique and memorable. Joy wells up and your heart overflows. Mine did! Now I had a ‘loaner’ baby in my arms and that joy filled me again! We call it mother’s moment.
Jesus speaks of that same joy in the early portion of John chapter 17. It is joy that is lasting. He says that it has come into your heart when you got saved and remains. It’s His gift as the Giver. In this same Scriptural passage, He clarifies that the evil of this world cannot take it from you. His permanent joy lasts.
Yet you and I can be foolish ones and focus on the world more than we are stayed in Him. He indicates the crisis, trauma, or tragedy that has happened in your life cannot remove His joy when your concentration is on His joy, Love, and Peace—this is why Christ is Risen.
The young mother returned to take back her child and I thanked her. My eyes brimmed with love for the three of them as they left, reminding me of His joy.
Jesus prays for your continual joy here: But now I am coming to You, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have My joy made complete in themselves.[ I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but I ask You to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth. John 17:13-17