What JOY

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our heart through the Holy Spirit who has been given us. Romans 5:1-5 (emphasis mine)

Did you just read that? Gosh, I feel like I could read it a thousand times and it still would be powerful, if not more powerful, than the time before that. We (as believers) have been justified by faith. We have peace with God through Jesus. WHAT. Now we stand in this grace, and rejoice in the hope of His glory.

"More than that.." I asked myself the other day, how could I rejoice in something more than rejoicing in the hope of God's glory? It just doesn't seem possible. But, we are called to rejoice even more so in our sufferings. Sufferings? The times when it's hardest to rejoice. The time when the doctor says there's nothing else he can do, the time when you're going through a season God is putting you through to discipline you, the time when your family rejects you for what you believe, etc..We are called to rejoice! I don't know if you think that's difficult or not, but from personal experience, it can only happen through trusting in His grace and the hope He offers.

"What JOY, what JOY for those whose hope is in the name of the Lord. What peace, what peace for those whose confidence is Him alone."

Trusting God's word that says this hope doesn't disappoint because God has poured His love into us through His Holy Spirit.

Snap.

Every time I refer to my life in segments of time, I refer to them as semesters simply because I'm a college kid. Each semester I have a phrase or a word that correlates with what God is doing in my life, or what I am hoping to achieve. For instance, two semesters ago it was "discipline" because I had come from a previous semester of straight up complacency and thought that I was doing alright. Last semester it was "valley of vision" because I was in a season where I felt like God was no where to be found, after I had an amazing summer growing in my knowledge of Him. It felt like I hit a brick wall last semester, I wasn't encouraged..and even when I was surrounded by friends I felt crazy lonely. God has shown me such great things through that season though. It was a time where I felt abandoned only to realize I never was, and eventually it made me realize how much I wanted to be near to Him. (There's an awesome poem called valley of vision that a sweet friend showed me and it immediately became the name of this period of time in my life because I loved it so much.) Now, for this semester it's "Choosing Holiness," see what I did there? :) But really, this semester I am realizing the importance of choosing holiness every single day, only by the grace of God, because it's a choice to live like Jesus. You're not going to wake up in the morning feeling like you want to serve people, love people, not yell at people when they cut you off on the road, etc.. Our nature is to be angry, jealous, self-centered, unsatisfied. BUT GOD, is calling us to throw off our old self and chase after Him. Chase after His holiness and to be holy because He is holy. (1 Peter 1:15) I say all of this because over the break for Christmas, I went through a situation where I chose to live in my flesh. God showed me that I was prone to wander, prone to justify my sin and say it wasn't really "that bad." Let's just say that moment scared me, and I realized how much I needed Jesus. How none of this "choosing holiness" stuff can happen on my own. So, be encouraged! None of this can we do on our own, only God can do it through us.

"People do not drift toward Holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord.
We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." -D.A. Carson, "For the Love of God"

Be encouraged, you were created for MORE.

Jenny


"For this is the will of God, your sanctification." 1 Thessalonians 4:3