Finding Joy in the Hope for Joy

John 16:21-22

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.  So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.

What a great comfort this passages is!  And all the more reason to be eternally minded!  This is one of those passages in which the principle of hope rests on and shows how joy can be found in hope, knowing not just that a better day is coming, but a day so good that it makes us forget everything terrible we experienced leading up to it.

But for me, the best sentence in this passage is found in verse 22: "and no one will take your joy from you."  This joy Jesus describes her is not fleeting human emotion.  It's not temporal or just for a season. It's permanent, and no one will ever be able to take it away from us.

This is what we have to look forward to - essentially, perfection.  Resting in such hope for that joy can bring us a sturdy joy even now in the midst of our trials.   Such hope certainly helps ease up the weight of our trials, for we know that something good will come of them.  This pain is only for a season.  The joy that Jesus offers us, however, is eternal.

We have access to that joy now.  Because it's an internal joy bred from our hope in Jesus, not one dependent on outside circumstances.  A joy that rests in our infallible Jesus has no reason to ever fade.  Let us welcome in that joy now as we continue to hope for the day where everything external will bring us joy, too.  A day that will come in our eternity spent with Christ Jesus.

Take heart in this today!

How I Personally Think Bipartisan Politics Fits Into Christianity

Romans 14:17-18

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Let's do some word substitution in that verse up there:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of [Democrat] and [Republican], but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.  So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

I think that could be good to hold on to during this election season.  By all means, pick a party and vote in accordance to that.  Just remember that a person's Christianity is not defined by their political preference.  And let us neither tear down each other nor demean another's walk with God because of their opposing political choices.  Because it's not about that.

If you're serving Christ, it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican or a Libertarian.  Doesn't matter, because you're still accepted by God, regardless of who you're voting for in two weeks.