YOUR JOY CAN BE FULL

“These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full”  – John 15:11

The Lord Jesus Christ affirms the possibility that our JOY CAN BE FULL: “These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (Jh.15:11). He wants each of His children to experience joy to the full! For Him, this was a strange time to talk about joy, for soon He would be in dark Gethsemane. Shortly after that He would be facing His accusers and hearing the taunts and mocking of those who hated Him, and then He would be crucified. In the face of all this He spoke of JOY! How unique this joy must have been if it still remained with Him in His time of greatest trial and testing! The Lord’s provision for all His children is that His joy should become our joy and abide in us – “that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”  

As Christians we are to be joyful always and in everything: “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Phil.4:4). Joy should be the prevailing characteristic in our lives: “Rejoice evermore” (1The.5:16). We must admit, however, that often we are sad, sombre and gloomy.  What then is the fullness of Joy? In what sense is our joy full? What does fullness mean? I think there are both an eternal and temporal dimensions to the fullness of joy. Eternally, in the age to come, fullness of joy means to experience so much joy that all competing, contrary emotions will be gone: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” (Rev.21:4). Yet, in this present life, in this fallen world of sin and sin’s consequences,  the truth of the fullness of Joy still applies.

There is fullness if our joy in God is so full that it outweighs all other competing emotions and overflows in love to others. Paul said concerning the churches in Macedonia, “that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their JOY and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2Cor.8:2). In other words, the joy in God was so full, it outweighed affliction and poverty, and it overflowed in generosity. There was a fullness of Joy in God, even though there was still some measure of pain along the way.

There is fullness of Joy because Christ is our Fullness – the end of our quest for fulfilment. There may be ups and downs, but we can reckon them as Joy in Christ: “my brethren, count it ALL JOY when you fall into various trials…” (Jam.1:2).  We will never leave this Fountain of Joy to seek for a more satisfying one. Paul said, “But indeed I also count all things loos for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ” (Phil.3:8). Satisfaction, fulfilment, and fullness of Joy cannot be found in “things,” but only in Christ! He says, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (Jh.6:35). Jesus is the end of our quest for perfect and full satisfaction. Turn to no other, and you will in due time never thirst again.

There is fullness when our joy in God is so full that it rises to the heights of overflowing gladness in songs, praises, worship or other forms of spiritual exuberance: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph.5:18-19). The fullness of Joy flows from a heart that is continually filled with the Spirit. In Christ, our Joy can be full, to the praise of His Name!