2022-10-28
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, I’ve been commanded to write about what the joy of salvation means. PS 51: 12-13, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, so that sinners will turn back to You.” Recently, I heard a sermon given by a well-meaning rabbi about his congregation’s (and people in general included) who need to consider their community relationships. I’m a believer that many tasks for God should be done by volunteers. Not taking material gifts in return for greeting people warmly at the entrance when arriving at services, reaching out to newcomers, teaching children and adults in Sunday school, and periodically participating in worship place clean-ups are the kind of jobs I have in mind. Newcomers want to feel welcomed, if they are hoping to return to this same place of worship. The decision to participate in these activities and others like them is a heart-driven decision and not one done by shaming or coercion.
Nothing that we do escapes God’s attention. HE 4: 13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.” When we exhibit joy at doing a task for God, that joy is God showing us His approval and it’s infectious, spreading to others. Doing God’s work brings the kind of attention from others that is admirable. It also brings us closer to God and gives us opportunities to discover skills we didn’t know God has given us. A friend of mine was a teacher in an adult Bible class, something I’ve done myself for many years. We got into a conversation when class time was over for the day. I asked him what got him to choose to do this kind of work. He said simply, “I had a teacher who was known for being a good one, who made the class interesting, and had an engaging sense of humor.” It was exactly why I got into teaching Bible classes! Over time with this kind of volunteering these places of worship get known to be great places to be and for doing kindnesses for their communities.
The congregation I belong to is very much like this, despite the fact that I moved where I live only 1 ½ years ago and would surely be considered a newcomer. Some people are so cynical that they assign a hidden motive to any kindness they encounter. That’s what living in this broken world has caused. Why is our world so broken? Why can’t our world feel the joy that comes from serving others while we serve God? What has brought about the awful cynicism that has so muddied our thinking? We need only look at the greed, materialism, and idolatry that is practiced for the answer. These are the wrongful emphases that are at the root of the problem. God is sidelined and not considered a priority in some people’s lives. And yes, He is painfully aware of it. I can’t help but think of Jonah, who thought he knew more than God and chose to travel west to Tarshish [modern day Spain] instead of east to Nineveh [modern day Mogadishu]. All Jonah could think of was that Nineveh was the “enemy capital” –a town full of people who didn’t believe in Judaism. Most of us should look at the question: Do we trust God enough to take His advice, as Abraham did when God told him to
sacrifice Isaac on the altar? Abraham, in GN 22, didn’t know what God would do, but he followed the Lord’s command—even though it didn’t seem safe to him. And here is where the rubber meets the road! Jonah had no idea that God planned to use him to bring many of Nineveh’s residents closer to Himself! The net result of Abraham’s obedience gave us an early archetype of how Jesus Christ would be the perfect Propitiation for believing mankind’s sins. Those who are obedient to God can expect the joy of one’s salvation, the very same thing David experienced resulting from his earnest confession in PS 51. There is nothing more important to God than bringing us closer to Him. That’s because He loves us so very much! Praise and thanks be to Him!
PRAYER: Dearest Lord, if our world is to ever experience the joy of salvation, we are going to have to stop competing with each other about what material things we have, how many initials surrounding our names, indicating our education we’ve had, and we are going to have to be faithfully obedient to You. This begins one person at a time, one family at a time, and one congregation at a time. Christ has a new commandment for us: JN 13: 34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” There is no better way for us to experience the joy of salvation than to exhibit the love that the Lord Jesus modeled for us. God has written us a “Love Letter,” which we call the Scriptures. Knowing, understanding, and applying its principles help us along the way to give us the joy of salvation. I join many others in urging you to learn to love the Bible as I do. Remember: 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This prayer is offered in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded to write about the joy found in loving our fellow man. We will look at some of the trouble that arises with interpersonal relationships and evildoing. Human beings are only now discovering that some of their behaviors are causing terrible problems with the overall health of this planet. For the sake of the future, we are going to have to find a way to compromise with each other in an effort to get along. There are always negative consequences when mankind refuses to that and build good teamwork to help out each other. God will take care of the rest, things that we can’t adjudicate. And we must know when we are usurping His right, just as we do when each other’s rights are ignored. MT 5: 8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Micah 6: 8, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn, JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2022. All Rights Reserved.
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