Does anyone out there remember the movie “Dumbo”? As I remember it, this flick was about a young elephant that could FLY. While I believe that this photo was manipulated, nonetheless it does make a point. This animal is experiencing JOY! Question: What about the Christian? What is his joy? Jesus says…
John 15 ( World English Bible )
1 "“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. "
2 "Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. "
3 "You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. "
4 "Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me."
5 "I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. "
6 "If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. "
7 "If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you."
8 "“In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. "
9 "Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. "
10 "If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. "
11 "I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full."
The greatest love that I have ever known is the love of God. This love led to sacrifice of the highest magnitude and gained the greatest reward; nothing less than the redemption of all human beings who truly obey the Gospel and live as God has instructed them to. Jesus was a man and God at the same time; he was showing us the true way to God, the co-mingling of love and obedience in each of us. We are to both do what God says and obey with the attitude of Jesus. This produces a confidence in us that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall we be in the last day.
If we listen and if we obey and if we put into practice the commands of God, we will truly live, not merely exist. God will be with us and in us. I don’t know about you, but the prospect of living now with Jesus and forever with Jesus produces a joy that cannot be expressed in words. Now, if I only could fly...