Jesus, Our Joy

As Christmas makes its final approach on the runway of our calendars, it may be that we are dangerously close to being swallowed up by the angst and stress of trying to coordinate holiday traditions or by the crushing pressure of trying to appease the tyranny of Christmas lists of our children or other family members. If you find yourself being hurried and harried by trying to make sure that it is “the best Christmas ever”, don’t allow the bullying of unrealistic expectations be a thief that steals from you the opportunity to draw from heaven the joy of God.

There is a danger, even in the church, for us to not understand joy and to not know how to experience it. What we too often settle for is a kind of contentment that is founded upon circumstances in our world which, at best, is fragile and subject to an instant’s nullification at any moment if and when trouble comes or tragedy strikes. A pseudo-joy such as this is dangerous because it anesthetizes us against the hunger for God which moves us to receive His grace and be transformed by His Spirit. 

But joy – true joy – is of God and He delights in our experiencing it and cherishes its aim which is for us to know Him and know His eternal love for us. And there are a number of “mechanisms” in which our appetite for it can be taught to recognize it and, ultimately, to savor it. One of these mechanisms is the relief that comes from the healing of persistent pain (physically or emotionally) which invariably results in joy. For example, a person afflicted by physical pain for any length of time can become consumed with the need for relief. Hence, one’s propensity to turn to things that mask pain or distract one from it. It is easy to see how despair from not receiving healing can be allowed to trigger a person’s settling for counterfeit experiences, learning only too late that such alternatives only breed new hurts and sorrows. But when that person experiences for the first time that the weight of pain has been lifted – and lifted for good – he or she experiences a surge of joy.

Another way in which we become acquainted with joy is through the reversal of misfortune or failure. There are perhaps a few exceptions to this, but generally we are all somehow and at sometime touched by failure. Failing to achieve a sought after goal, whatever that goal might be, depending on how we have labored and sacrificed for it, can be so disheartening that some people do not recover from the experience. After dreaming with all one’s heart, striving with all one’s strength, and sacrificing all one has, the dark night of soul that comes from failing to win what seems utterly important and even necessary can turn into glorious day when such failure flip-flops unexpectedly into success, especially a success that surpasses what he or she had hoped for.

Yet another is the return or finding of something that seemed hopelessly lost. Jesus illustrated this kind of joy in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, in the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost (Prodigal) Son. In each instance, the restoration of what had been lost resulted in a joy that bubbled over into celebration!

One that is hard to explain, yet is extremely profound for the one it blesses, is the recognition of the sublime which is why art and music can be so powerful in affecting our emotions. This is the kind of joy that I believe C.S. Lewis refers to in his auto-biography, Surprised by Joy, which describes his journey from atheistic skepticism to his eventual experience of faith in Jesus Christ. In it, he relates how such rare yet vital emergences of joy ultimately helped him to recognize the authenticity of Jesus as true Lord and Savior.

Finally, receiving what the heart desires most is cause and catalyst for experiencing joy. There is innately programmed into each of us a hunger for more than anything that this world can supply. We are so confounded by it, yet so ignorant of what it is we truly crave (namely, authentic relationship with God through Jesus Christ), that we try to plug the hole in our souls with all sorts of things that promise fulfillment, yet cannot deliver the goods.

Indeed, happiness in the wrong things can be spiritually lethal and seal our eternal destruction because it lulls us to complacency in regard to our spiritual need for Christ and His atonement for us. This kind of “joy” is not the joy that God has in mind for you. When Jesus spoke with His disciples in the Gospel of John, the occasion being the eve of His crucifixion, He promised them, that after a season of grief, their sorrow would turn to joy (John 16:20). The joy He promised them was otherworldly and supernatural for it in no way finds either its source or its end in this temporal life, but flows from His eternal Being. This joy has enormous power to make a difference to you and me in this life and serves us like an anchor when we face trouble, sorrow, or pain in the here and now.

And here is the point: Jesus satisfies perfectly every condition for joy that you and I have. He brings us relief of the pain we feel in our souls by accepting and comforting us with His precious presence; His grace serves as a balm for every hurt of our hearts. He achieves for us the reversal of our failure by succeeding in our stead both as a sinless man and perfect sacrifice for us on the cross; through faith in Him, we have victory. Because He came and died for us on the cross, we, the lost sheep, coins and sons, are reunited with our heavenly Father, Who does not turn us away as we deserve; He takes us out of our lost condition and places us where we belong as children of God. In Jesus, we see that which is truly sublime, perfect and pure in every way; “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15 ESV). And when we receive Christ truly as both Savior and Lord, we finally receive what our hearts have truly desired; we obtain that for which we have hungered and thirsted even when we did not know what it was we needed.

This Christmas, open your heart to God and receive Him as Lord and Savior. In doing so, you’ve opened the door to true joy, “… and no one will take your joy from you” (from John 16:22b ESV).

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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Living in the Hinterlands

In an age characterized by massive transference of information (or “false-information” as most of it proves to be) from one entity to another, it has become a culturally accepted notion that one must learn the skill of multi-tasking so that one can navigate the complex and perplexing responsibilities and requirements of today’s dizzying pace. I suppose, to a degree, there is some practical truth to the idea that one must know a little about a lot of things just to survive our technologically driven world.

That being said, however, a huge mistake that many make is to believe that one can “multi-task” in the sense of living a life of faith while at the same time living according to the whirling whims of a world that marches according to its own agenda.

Why, when we’re called to live in a new and wonderful land of light and joy, would we settle for living merely along its borders… the sad and lonely “hinterlands”?

It is as if a man, called to live in a new and wonderful land, settles for living merely along its borders, a sort of “hinterland” (a remote or undeveloped part of a country) wherein he celebrates the light and the glory of the new kingdom from afar, while still not quite free from the enamoring boasts of the old life.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus met such a man who queried, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16 ESV).

Jesus countered him with a question of His own, one intended to give pause to a quick and easy solution to the man’s dilemma of wanting to live in two worlds simultaneously. “Why do you ask Me about what is good? There is only One Who is good” (v 17a).

The very fact that Jesus asked this question is, in my opinion, evidence that Jesus had (and has) an uncanny ability for seeing into the heart of a person and knowing how to deftly tackle the idols and issues that hinder his coming fully into God’s light and life. It is as if Jesus was asking him, “Are you willing to acknowledge My authority and will you truly hear and receive what I am about to say to you?”

Jesus then mentioned to this searching soul what all shallow seekers already know to do. “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (v 17b).

But there was the rub. The man had already been keeping them. Well, he had at the very least been keeping them externally. He had obeyed them with his hands and possibly with even his bank account (so far as the Law required). Yet, he was unsatisfied. He was unfulfilled. He was seeing from a distance that glorious light glowing and was hungry for what it represented, yet he was merely in the margins of the realm, and had not fully disclaimed citizenship of his old country.

“The young man said to Him, ‘All these I have kept. What do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you would be perfect (as in “whole, complete, or fulfilled”), go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” (vv 20-21).

What a quandary for that young man! He wanted the joy and peace of Jesus’ life, but found himself forced to make a choice: he had to either surrender the few places in his affections that he had reserved for his own comforts, so that he could run unencumbered headlong into the life God had reserved for him; or he had to choose to continue as he had been doing, and never completely cross over into the land of promise.

“When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (v 22).

It evidently was too a hard choice. In the moment of crisis, when forced to choose between continuing as he had for years (never quite in the light) or denouncing his citizenship of the world by surrendering the one thing of that old world he loved most (his stuff), his stuff won out.

Rather, his love for stuff won out. Keep in mind that owning possessions was not sin; but those possessions were his idol. But Jesus, loving him as the Savior loves each of us, brought to him the invitation to enter into the lovely meadows and fruitful groves of spiritual abundance that life in Christ is to those who whole-heartedly respond to His call.

By calling him to give up those things by giving them to the poor, Jesus invited him into a new life complete with new purpose and new meaning.

Today, the call to follow has not changed for those who are hungry for more than the mere phantoms of joy and pleasure that this world offers. We must still choose Him over pleasures and comforts; we must still decide between pleasing Him and forgoing popularity and good will; and we must still acknowledge Him as Lord (by which I mean we must obey Him) over following attitudes and philosophies of the world that are contrary to God’s Word.

But many of us will continue to dwell sorrowfully, knowing that we are missing still the glory and gain of the Kingdom of God while we remain on the borders, prisoners of the hinterlands of heaven, chained still to our old lives. Though we attend church and do our good deeds, there are “possessions” in our lives which still hold the place of supremacy, which still hold our allegiance.

Do not settle for the hinterlands, beloved. Fully surrender to the Savior your life and will and see if He will not fully satisfy your soul’s deepest needs. He invites you to come in and desires for you to be filled with the joy and peace of His presence.

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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O Beloved Child

When golden sun first lights the day

and little songbirds wake and play,

perhaps you hear the Father say,

“I am with you, O My child.”

 

But even when the light is shorn

and gray and cold you find the morn

and trials come that can’t be borne,

He’s still near you, O dear child.

 

When your joy is overflowing

and you reap fruits of gladness’ sowing,

of fear and hate there seems no knowing,

bless His name, O happy child.

 

But when all life is filled with woe

and grief and loss are all you know,

and one more step’s too far to go,

let Him carry you, O weary child.

 

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.   And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” – Philippians 4:4-7 ESV

 

 

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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Just Wait and See

Today when folks can only strive

          To just get through and stay alive,

When gloom and doom are all the norm,

          And hearts are cold that once were warm,

The embers of all Christian hearts,

          Though cooling off, may find new starts.

The hopes we have, like living trees,

          Reach up, adorned with dreams like leaves;

We stroll along beneath the shade

          Of plans that our hearts have made.

But scorching winds, then icy hail,

          Of life’s troubles, come like a gale,

And level hopes and rip apart

          Those dreams we keep close to our heart.

What can we do?  What can we say

          When such troubles shroud our way?

Is light by darkness overcome?

          And will we find that hate has won?

Is there no God Who hears the plea

          Of tortured souls in agony? 

 

But truly there is waiting yet,

          For those whose eyes on God are set,

A better land, a greener green,

          Than any that our eyes have seen. 

Such troubled times just seed the ground

          With greater glories only found

In plowed up fields of broken lives

          Where silver tears may fill men’s eyes. 

A golden joy waits just ahead

          Though our hope seems all but dead.

To blazing fire our God will fan

          Trusting heart of a faithful man.

Hold on, dear one.  Just wait and see,

          What joys He has reserved for thee.

Stay the course and trust the One

          Who for you has sent His Son.

 

 Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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Only One Star

Much better than in many places in the world is the view that we have of the night sky in southeastern Ohio. Wide open countryside provides a much better “venue” for seeing the dazzling lights spread across the canopy of heaven than do cityscapes whose auras obscure the tiny flames of fire that dance year after year attesting to the glory of He Who created them. Each celestial body is a miracle, each one a singular creation.

“Praise the LORD!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting!…  He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names.  Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:1, 4-5 ESV).

Red giants, yellow suns, and white dwarfs (not to mention neutron stars, black holes, nebulae, quasars, and pulsars), with a seemingly infinite number of variations of all of them, are all set into what would have been the inky blackness of night without them.

And yet no single star has as much historical and, indeed, spiritual significance as does the one that shone on the little, lonely town of Bethlehem leading spiritual seekers from lands far in the east.

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him….’  They went on their way.  And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was” (Matthew 2:1-2, 9 ESV).

See how all the starry hosts were forced to give way to the one whose light outshone with brilliance and glory all their efforts? See how the light of this special star was seen and discerned so that these eastern spiritual seekers could be brought to the Truth (see John 14:6)? Of all the stars that they could have followed, of all the signs that these wise men might have heeded, only one was worthy of the great trek that they took upon themselves. Only one was sufficient for the sacrifices of leaving family, friends, and important duties. Only one could lead them the right way.

But stars fill the skies of our lives today also. Twinkling all around us are lights that beckon us to follow. It seems that the whole landscape of our vision is exploding with flickering invitations promising to lead us to health, wealth, and happiness but lead to nothing in the end but disappointment, disillusionment, and spiritual death. But, just as in the day of the Magi, there is one Light that can actually lead us the right Way and bring us to the Truth. Only One is worthy of our devotion as it insists that we each arise from our life of personal pursuits and pursue the will of our Creator.

When I gaze into the night skies, I am humbled to think that in all of this wide and wonderful universe, there is one hurtling sphere especially dear to the Lord’s heart, so dear in fact that He Himself descended to it and dwelt thereon. And upon that hurtling sphere lives and breathes humanity, lost and adrift in the swirling cosmos, reaching for stars but reaping dust.

But how the heart of God yearns for a harvest of hope in our lives! He still beckons us to come to Him, to search for Him, and to leave all to follow Him (see Luke 9:23). He still says to us that, while there are countless stars in our lives to which we could give our lives, only One is worthy of the great trek that we must take upon ourselves. Only One can lead us the right Way. Only One can bring us to the Truth.

“When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:10-11 ESV).

And if we too will follow the Light which leads us to God’s Truth, then we too may enter joyfully into His presence, worship Him, and offer Him such gifts as we have.

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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The Kingdom Key Called Faith

The kingdom key that we call faith

                Is certainly one that we must

Employ as we journey through life.

                Though it isn’t easy to trust,

When disappointment clings tightly

                And we’re used to liars and cons.

It’s easy to nurture our doubts,

                When we rehearse our suffered wrongs.

 

But it’s hard, too, when things go well

                And life just keeps flowing along.

We decide we don’t need God’s strength,

                Because we’re convinced we are strong.

Either way, we’re hopelessly duped

                As we despair of finding hope.

So we settle for anxious thoughts

                Of how in the world we will cope. 

 

Forsake not the light that God sends

                In the pages of His Word.

When ogres of discouragement come,

                Remember to use your sword!

When facing snakes that lead astray,

                And though lions of trial may roar,

Cling in faith to the Christ Who came

                And for you His own blood poured.

 

Live your life in the peace that comes

                From wholly trusting in the Lord.

True joy comes in your daily life

                As you trust in God’s holy Word. 

 

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

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Amid an Age When Sin is Vogue

Amid an age when sin is vogue,

And speaking truth is running rogue,

We find that faith might wear quite thin,

For more go out than do come in.

 

The darkened mind and shuttered eye

Will point our way and start to lie:

 

“Crooked scales and caustic cues

Lay like snares within their pews!

Don’t trust them!  They’re hypocrites!

They steal him blind, the one who sits

Beneath self-righteous blitherings

And all their mindless ditherings!” 

 

It chaffs one who with all his strength

Serves his Lord!  And so, at length,

It robs him of the joy he had;

It makes him doubt and makes him sad.

 

Yet all is watched by our Lord

Who holds securely His reward

For one who trusts and stays on track;

Who endures the spite and won’t strike back

At those who laugh and those who smirk;

Who knows it’s still his job to work

For the glory of God above

And won’t stop fleshing out Christ’s love. 

 

They know there will be fruit one day

And find refreshment in the way

That God uses a faithful hand

To shine His light throughout the land. 

 

Copyright © Thom Mollohan

 

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