Joy seems to be an appropriate topic for a time like this. Just about everyone thinks that the world is in some rough times right now, and a spirit of pessimism and despair seems to have settled across the world. Our finances are in shambles, our freedom has been compromised, and our security is threatened. If you were to evaluate the world around us I think you would find little to take much comfort in.
But if you look at what Christ did on the cross and what that means to us, then you should be filled with a joy that cannot be contained. Each and everyone of us were born sinners, and were enemies of God. We stood seperated from our Father by our sin and rebellion, and there was nothing that we could do about it. We had a criminal record with our every offense against God written down on it, and there was a price that justice demanded must be paid for these offenses. But Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross, and bore God's wrath for us so that we could stand blameless in the eyes of our Father and be restored to a right relationship with him.
How does that make you feel? I think David put it best. "Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!"
No longer do we live guilty and condemned. We live forgiven. We were all guilty of so much, and we deserved death, but Jesus took upon Himself the penalty for our sins, and gave us life.
How do you feel when you think about the ramifications of that? What you're feeling right now is called joy, and that is something that nothing going on in the world around us can take away.
