JOY - Jesus, Others and You!

John 15:11-17

     Years ago a friend gave me a necklace with a pendant that had three small pictures enameled on it. The first one was a cross - to represent Jesus. The second was a group of people- to represent others, and the third was a single person - meant to represent you. It was a picture of the acrostic for JOY - Jesus, Others, then You.

     Faith in Christ and obedience to His command to abide in Him produces the fruit of joy in our lives. Joy is different than happiness. Happy is determined by our circumstances, as they change so do the feelings of happiness. Joy is a gladness that lasts even through troubled times. I think of happiness as an emotion that is trying to be joy, without abiding in Christ! To know joy, we must put Jesus first!

     Christ then directs us to love one another as He loved us. How exactly did He love us? "...in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) He didn't love us because we were worthy of love. This is usually our measurement for loving, "Is this person worthy of my love?", "Should I spend my time caring for someone that may never love me in return?". Jesus loved us, even though He knew that we were unworthy, and that many would never love Him in return - never care that He died for their sins. This is the kind of love we are called to have for others, a selfless love.

     And last on the acrostic - you. Christ only asks that we abide in Him, and in doing that He will give us the strength to love selflessly as He's commanded. We will bear the "fruit" of the Spirit; love, JOY, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our part in the "you" of  joy is very small, but if we don't do our part and abide in Him then we will never experience the joy that He wants us to have!