We often go searching for joy and settle for happiness instead. Happiness is a product of the present, it’s a result of my current circumstances. Joy however is rooted in both the past and the future. In order to find lasting joy and not just momentary happiness we have to root ourselves in the faithfulness of God in the past and the certainty of what he has promised to us in the future. We can find joy by reminding ourselves that just as God was faithful in fulfilling his promise to provide a rescuer and redeemer he will also be faithful in fulfilling his promise to one day come again to renew and restore all that sin has broken.
When Christ gave the mission of being His witnesses to the world it was accompanied by a promise: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” In chapter 2 of Acts we see the promise of Jesus fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It was on that day that the church was born. Without the person of the Holy Spirit there is no power in the church, we have no ability to accomplish the mission God has tasked us with, but with the power of the Holy Spirit a fisherman who fled Jesus at His hour of need can preach boldly and see thousands repent and come to Christ, language barriers can be stripped away so that the gospel can be understood, a community of radical connection and generosity can be formed amongst people who may share nothing else in common, and God can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)
When Christ gave the mission of being His witnesses to the world it was accompanied by a promise: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” In chapter 2 of Acts we see the promise of Jesus fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It was on that day that the church was born. Without the person of the Holy Spirit there is no power in the church, we have no ability to accomplish the mission God has tasked us with, but with the power of the Holy Spirit a fisherman who fled Jesus at His hour of need can preach boldly and see thousands repent and come to Christ, language barriers can be stripped away so that the gospel can be understood, a community of radical connection and generosity can be formed amongst people who may share nothing else in common, and God can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20)