Lost Joy Belittles Christ
“If our joy is lost, Christ is belittled, and what then has love to offer the beloved sinner?” John Piper, Taste and See, pg. 4
In Philippi, the authorities locked Paul and Silas up in prison because they set a slave girl free from demons. Beaten, and whipped, the two were locked in a prison.
Prisons in those days were brutal. I imagine the two men, their backs scarred by the rods that had beaten them, chained to a wall, their bloodied backs pressed against the rough stone.
I know how I’d react. It would not be with hymns of worship.
Little things can set me off. When they do, I forget that God is for me–if this is true, nothing can be against me.
Lately, I’ve been lost in John Piper’s writings. He makes the bold statement that if our joy is lost–Christ is belittled.
What a sobering thought.
We, as Christians, love Jesus above all things. Yet, I’ll speak for myself, I too often let petty issues–poor book sales, a crashed website, writer’s block for my latest work, even the dreary/cold/dark winter days–steal my joy. To think by wallowing, I belittle the one I love?
Sobering for sure.
Then if we have not joy–how can a sinner understand the love of Christ?
Ironically, the episode where Paul and Silas sang was in Philippia and the book of Philippians is one of the most joyful books in Scripture.
So I close with this thought from Philippians 3:1: “Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.”
Only in rejoicing in the works God allows in our lives can we bring his honor.
Author Carol McClain
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