The Road Not Chosen: Joy Unspeakable

In a wonderful passage of the Bible, the Apostle Peter, in talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, tells believers:

"So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls." (NLT I Peter 1:3-9)

There are two wonderful life-sustaining statements in here. The first is that there is a promise of wonderful joy in our future if we are Christians. In Peter's mind it is a given that we will have to go through hard times. There is no "get out of trials free" card that will keep us from them. The tough times will come. But wait, Peter says, look in front of you, there's joy coming! Don't forget that. It's coming! Hang in there, let yourself be made strong & pure by hardship, don't cave in. Joy is ahead!

The second statement is just as wonderful and is the cause of much muttering & head-scratching among those who do not believe in Jesus. We Christians have this joy that bubbles deep down in us even in the worst of times because we believe & trust in someone we have never seen with our physical eyes. How crazy is that? I am here to tell you it's the best kind of crazy! It's the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning when depression is trying to pound me back down into the mattress. That "inexpressible joy" is what keeps me putting one foot in front of the other even though every demon in hell is fighting to keep me focused on what I don't have, instead of what I do have.

And what do I have? I have the promise of joy now and joy forever, that's what. It is what caused the Psalmist to say,

Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy.

Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!

Joy is our promise and our reality, if we will only remember that our hope is not in this world and the things that it tries to offer us. Over 2000 years ago, a baby really was born of a virgin & his birth was announced with glorious shouts of joy in the heavens, because the curse of sin was broken and eternal despair was replaced with eternal joy. Let that be our reality.