John 16:16-33 | What's the lesson for me today?

Joy is a heavily recurring theme for me in my study of Scripture. Not only do I see joy brought up all throughout Scripture, I se that joy is something that should rule over circumstances for the believer. When I look around, even at my own life, I can see how circumstances rule over joy. Jesus promises something really powerful to His disciples. They will see Him again and rejoice, and no one will take their joy from them. That tells me something really powerful about the nature of joy in the believer that I long to see. Outside individuals and outside factors should not impact our joy.

Indeed, this is coming out of a season where lamenting and weeping are heavy realities for the believer as well. I don't want to over emphasize this point. We are called to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Truth be told, I think we are really bad at both of those. We prefer to stay in our own lane. In fact, we often fail to invite others into our weeping or rejoicing. In any case, I do think we as a church have lamenting and weeping down a lot more than rejoicing, so this is a point I want to stress, even for me.

The disciples had a genuine encounter with the risen Savior and it changed everything. They rejoiced in the midst of genuine trial and suffering. They look for opportunity to rejoice. It was unceasing. Thankfulness was central to their language. Jesus changed everything in the disciples. Jesus can do the same for us. My prayer is that we do not let things matter more than what matters most. My lesson is to look at the risen Savior and recognize the implications of that reality.

What is the lesson you are taking away today?