Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
Jesus in His fullness fills us with good things such as love, unity, comfort, and enablement to do what is right. To this blessed list, let us add joy. In II Timothy 1:4, Paul writes to his friend and fellow worker Timothy, “Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.” Paul is not saying that he finds joy in Timothy’s distress. No, both men knew the rigors of serving Jesus in the midst of the viciously pagan Roman Empire. In fact, Paul would be martyred in Rome within a year of writing this epistle. What Paul is doing is contrasting the temporary “tears” of this life with the permanent “joy” that is found in Jesus. Also, he simply wanted to see his loyal friend; as we anticipate gathering with family and friends on Thanksgiving Day, we can echo his sentiments. Let us remember that joy is a characteristic of God and motivated God the Son as He died on the Cross (Hebrews 12:2). This is the same joy that He provides for each one of us, for through faith in Jesus we have a sure expectation of eternal life in heaven.