Conviction and salvation; conviction and purifying John 1:1-5,9-14; 3:16-21; Nehemiah 8:1-12 - to hear the truth of God's truth, His commands that assure us of His mercy and grace in forgiveness and salvation, love and keeping, purification and making - as with so much else, joy and experiencing joy, is a matter of perspective… God’s perspective, His eternal perspective. (Psalm 39; Isaiah 40; John 4:1-42; Luke 10:1-3, 16, - 20-21)
“The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1Tim 1:5
“… from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2Tim 3:16-17
Unearthing joy, mining for joy*, experiencing the joy of our salvation
“8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1Peter 1:8-9 “7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” Psalm 51:7-12
Joy is very often buried underneath everything this world has done to us, everything the effect of sin has done - as true joy is only found in the fulfillment of our true and real purpose - and this world, and our experiences in it, so often wars against knowing that purpose and experiencing that joy. Our purpose is only found as we discover why we were created - by whom, for whom, to whom we were created, and living that life’s joy that is in us by Spirit and Truth.
This purpose is discovered when we see God in the face of Christ, Jesus - and there, there is joy. Though the joy be there, it can sometimes feel fleeting…
Now, our experiencing that joy can be diminished by sin and its consequences - this does not mean our joy and its source are gone, but that we have often put ourselves in a position to have difficulty seeing and experiencing it - whether that be by the consequence of sin and the discipline that comes - as “no discipline is pleasant” (Heb 12:4-11) - but in the end it brings joy because when endured it produces “righteousness” which is, Christ-likeness.
Or by our perspective… Joy IS ever present and never removed - because it is the fruit of our salvation (Luke 10; 1Pet 3; Gal 5:22), yes, it is often blunted by sin and its consequences, BUT/AND ALSO, as well by the perspective our finite selves tend to have of our circumstances.
All of this is why “rejoice…” is commanded and exhorted all through the New Testament as it is - the writers of the scriptures, these letters of love, are imploring us to raise our eyes above the temporal to the eternal - knowing that that eternal perspective will shape the temporal, the now. And, vice-versa, that remaining in a temporal perspective will skew our understanding of God’s intentions and rob us of that eternal, God's perspective - the truth of what ACTUALLY is.
We’ve been created to know God, to be known by God, to enjoy God, and be enjoyed by Him (Jer 24:7; 30:22; 32:38-39; Ez 11:20; Rev 21:1-7,22-25; 22:1-5,14,17)
Therefore, joy is found in and through our sufferings, as our suffering is the mining for joy.
God knows, in order for us to truly be the expression of His glory, that which He intends us to be -the truth of who we are in Christ, we, what have been made to be, must be extracted from the lies that sin has made us. As by the truth of who and whose we are is revealed and made known, the lies are being removed and make way for the truth of who we are to emerge and be revealed. As this truth is made known we see the image of what we were by God’s first intention, having been “made in His image and likeness”*, and now are becoming in Jesus**, what we are being created to be emerges, and as it is revealed joy begins to rise - because when we are discovering who we really are in Christ, which is our purpose, we see we are becoming all that we were meant to be – like Jesus! (Rom 8:29; 1Cor 15:49; 2Cor 3:18; Phi 3:21; Col 3:10; 1Peter 1:3-9; 1John 3:2).
* ” …Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” Gen 1:26 ** “…For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Eph 2:10
The words of God are the tools of God’s mining and purifying in the hands of the Spirit.
As we were exposed to the truths embedded in His word, all of the impediments, the adulterations, the dirt, and dross, are exposed and brought to the fore (“light” John 1:1--5; 3:21). As the process of refining commences, the truth and the Spirit work together to strip away what does not belong causing the face of the miner, the refiner, to emerge in the pure gold, the pure silver, that we were meant to be - the image of the creator begins to take shape and form. (Psalm 66:10; 1Peter 1:3-9)
Psalm 66:10 “You have tested us, O God; you have purified us like silver.”
NLT 1Peter 1:7 “These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
God is most interested in bringing each, and all, of His children, to glory - into Him, for Him, with Him, in Him and to Him - and this, in the way that will do just that for (each of) them, as they have been made, and are known by Him. (John 17:22; Rom 8:28-30; Heb 2:10; 2Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21; 2Thes 2:14; Psalm 139; 1Cor 12) “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.18And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate a the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Romans 5:1-5
Hebrews 12:4-13
