Inexpressible, Glorious Joy

 

Inexpressible, Glorious Joy

(Christ) whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory…

I Peter 1:8

There are many joys in life. There is the joy of true love, the joy of friendship, the joy of the birth of children, and the joy of success. All those have their satisfaction, and contribute to the sum of a joyful life. There is a higher, deeper, and more permanent joy, of which our text today speaks. This joy is ‘inexpressible, and full of glory.’ This is something so beyond the earthly joys, previously mentioned, that we can scarcely articulate it. It is the inexpressible, glorious joy, of faith in Christ. The joy that is thus glorious is not in the faith itself but rather in the Object of that faith. Christ is the Great Object of our faith. What is it about Christ that produces in us this ‘joy inexpressible and full of glory?’ It is the sum of all that He is, and the Fullness of all that He has done. Consider all the preaching, all the writing, all the expressions, of all the saints, of all the ages regarding the Person and Work of Christ. Consider that all of those articulations have fallen well short of expressing the Richness of Christ in all His Fullness. These are but scratchings of the surface. Yet the knowledge we have of Christ, though it be paltry, still fills our souls with joy that is so deep and thoroughgoing that we can barely express it. The glory it encompasses now is but a ‘foretaste of glory Divine.’ Let us dwell today, upon Christ, for He brings joy that is ‘inexpressible and full of glory,’ today and every day.

Our Great God and our Savior,
You are our Chief Joy.
You are the sum of all our hopes,
and by You we enjoy our highest joys.
Show us more today of Your own Great Self,
and our souls shall be joyfully satisfied.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice