"If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." (John 15:10-12)We all know that whole “that your joy may be made full” line and we all know the commandment that we’re supposed to love each other as He has loved us. Got it. But did you get the connections? Look at it. He says, “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you …” Have you asked yourself, “What things?” We should ask. It’s important. Jesus is telling us something for the purpose of making His joy complete in us. We really want that. What is it? It’s not unclear. “If you keep My commandments.” That is, keeping His commandments and abiding in His love results in His joy being made complete in us. Obedience is the means by which we abide in Him, and abiding in Him will make us joyful. That’s His claim.
It doesn’t stop there. He says, “If you keep My commandments …”, but He goes on to specify one commandment. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.” Paul wrote, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom 13:10). So love, on its own, becomes the fulfillment of all His commandments. Especially, loving like He did … sacrificially, completely, without reserve.
It’s feels completely counterintuitive. Jesus is saying, “If you obey Me and sacrifice your interests for the best interests of God and others, you will experience perfect joy.” It sounds crazy, perhaps, but that’s His claim. He’s not trying to be a killjoy and take away our happiness in order to obtain our obedience. He’s trying to make us as joyful as we can possibly be. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). That abundant life isn’t accomplished by seeking all the fun you can. It’s obtained by obeying to the fullest. In fact, Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). So, if we love Him we will obey Him … our joy will be complete. What are we waiting for?
1 comment:
It is a Christian paradox that when we choose to serve others rather than our own interests, we find ourselves likewise blessed in the end--the joy of obedience clearly manifested. It strikes me that only God could create a situation where counterintuitive human behavior plays out that way--i.e. a supernatural outcome we would not naturally or normally anticipate. (That is His MO, afterall!) In that way, it is a real “secret to joy,” as you term it. Jesus is promising us the same communion with Him that He enjoys with the Father, simply through our obedience and love for Him and others--wow! “What are we waiting for?” indeed!
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