Joy week4

What good is it, my brother, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well, keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.         James 2.14-17

Joy is the unsustainable expression of our faith. But joy is not something God gives us just so that we can experience a spiritual high. Joy is the consistent response of lives lived in the presence of God's salvation. We have been investigating the joy that results from seeing the creativity of God. But God also wants to use our own lives to create a better life for those around us. Joy is a direct result of our willing service to others.

When we see anyone in need of our ministry and fail to help that person, we lose the opportunity to experience joy. The fullest joy comes to us when we know that we have been the agents of God in creating a better life for those needy souls whom God has placed in our way.

We are God's crown of creation. But it is still natural for us to get hungry and thirsty, to grow tired and cold. To celebrate our humanity fully, we must not only seek to take care of our own needs, but to care in the same way for the needs of others. This is our ministry to the world, to care, and care genuinely.

God creates life, our lives and the lives of those needy souls to whom he calls us to minister. But the joy that belongs to us cannot develop until we learn to take those lives God has created and give them a better quality of life. Only after we will have taken the time to care will we have earned an honest joy. Caring and healing as Jesus Himself did is the shortest path to joy. Such service reminds us that we are partners with God in extending His kingdom by blessing His hurting world with our own commitment to Christ.