The Gift of Joy


A couple of weeks ago, I was having kind of a down week. I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it was the weather, or things going on at work or perhaps it was because I was tired from the 10 days spent with grandchildren or even the let down feeling from the trip being over. What ever the cause didn’t really matter, but the interesting thing about the situation was that the topic of my next speaking engagement is “Finding Joy in Your Journey” and here I was not feeling much joy. I even had a post it stuck on my computer that said—“Our contagious joy should be the distinguishing factor in the life of a follower of Christ.” I laughed to myself as I walked down the hall at work…I’m going to be telling others how to find joy when I’m having a bit of trouble with it myself. At that point God brought to mind the passage that I had been reading the previous morning—Ephesians 1:3-14. It speaks of all of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ. 

A picture formed in my mind that at the time we begin to trust Jesus as our Savior, He presents us with a gift bag filled with treasures—the thought brought a smile to my face, but I remembered that we  have to open the bag and begin to use the gifts or they are useless. When I got home that evening I couldn’t wait to get back to the passage to review and reclaim my gifts.

The passage said that He blessed us with every spiritually blessing--not just some, but every one.

The first blessing is that He chose us to be holy and blameless before He even created the world—think about that for a minute—you were on His mind before He even created the place for you to live. That thought in its self lifted my feelings. 

Then it says He loves us—not with conditional love like most people, but a pure and perfect love.

He predestined us to be adopted into His family—not just His neighbors, but His family.

He freely gives us glorious grace—not because we deserve it but just because He is God and wants to do it for His children.

And the list just keeps going:
  • We have been redeemed
  • We have forgiveness
  • He lavishes us with all wisdom and understanding
  • He makes known the mystery of His will
  • He has a purpose for our lives
  • He works out everything according to His will
  • We have hope in Christ
  • He speaks truth into our lives
  • He is our salvation
  • He marks and seals us with the Holy Spirit that guarantees our inheritance
We get all of these gifts just because we believe and trust in Jesus. By the time I got through this list my heart was soaring and I had my joy restored. I wanted to share it with you, because it helped me. So next time when I have those down days, I’m going to refresh myself with Ephesians 1. I hope you will join me. 

Ephesians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

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