“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” – Ecclesiastes 2:24-25.
In an article entitled “The Joy of Jesus,” Pastor Adrian Rogers said the following: “Unless you have joy in Jesus, your joy is not full. What is the secret to finding this joy? Jesus said He spoke “these things that your joy may be full.”
By “these things,” Jesus is referring to His words in John 15:1: “I am the true vine and my father is the [gardener].” Our relationship with Jesus is like that of a branch to a vine. A branch is absolutely dependent upon a vine. Do you depend upon Jesus totally and absolutely?
It is Jesus, the vine, that produces fruit; and we, the branches, bear the fruit, including the fruit of joy. Here’s how the joy of Jesus gets out of Him and into me: As I am in union and communion with Him, as my life is blended with His and His life infuses mine–just as the sap flows from the vine into the branch–the life of Jesus Christ flows into me and the joy that is in Him is now in me.
A branch may do some things–it may curl around the post, shed some leaves or bear some fruit, but it has one concern, and that is to abide in the vine. These other things happen because it has reduced its concerns to one. Have you ever brought all of the issues of life into one burning focus, and said “I have no greater ambition than just to abide in the Lord Jesus Christ?”
You belong to God just as the branch belongs to the vine. When you start seeing your life in that relationship you will find in your heart a miraculous joy because the joy of Christ which is the life of Christ is going to be flowing out of Christ and into you.
Our lives do belong to the Lord and outside of Him we will not find enjoyment. Today in prayer, praise Christ that in Him we can find an abundant and joyful life.
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” – John Piper
God’s Word: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” – Philippians 4:12-13
