It seems somewhat fitting that today I just started reading the book of 1 John. Almost a week out from Good Friday and Easter Sunday, this is a good reminder that just because we’ve put away our Easter decorations and eaten all our kids’ chocolate eggs (because we don’t want their teeth to rot *wink, wink), we should never forget or stop proclaiming about what Christ has done.
1 John 1:1-4 says, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
Jesus’ beloved disciple, John, records the things which he witnessed with his own eyes and touched with his own hands. He can attest to the fact that what was once dead, came back to life. When he says, “life appeared,” he literally saw Jesus appear… or more aptly, reappear. One day Jesus lay in a tomb and the next, He was risen.
Fifty years have passed between what John witnessed and what he now writes, yet I can still feel his passion as I read his words. He’s still astonished; still amazed; still in awe and wonder. Not only did he witness these things, but he now testifies about them. Although he had abandoned Jesus that night in the garden, John is now proclaiming who Christ is. He does it because he wants others to join in this sweet fellowship that he has come to know and also to make his joy complete.
I’ve never thought of it this way, but the only way I can know complete joy is by sharing with others the things which I have seen and heard. The things which I have read through the pages of Scripture. The things which I have seen Him do in my life and in the lives of the saints. The things that, through the crucible of pain and suffering, have forced my life to be a little bit less of me and increasingly more of Him.
I want my joy to be made complete. When blessings abound, may Christ be given all the glory. When sorrow and grief are my closest companions, may I continue to be steadfast in His love and faithfulness. From highest heights or lowest valleys, may every season of my life be used for His glory.