July 26, 2024

July 26:  The Joy of Serving.

The Joy of Christ.
"Now I am coming to you.  I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy."--John 17:13, NLT

THE JOY SET BEFORE CHRIST, the joy that sustained Him through sacrifice and suffering, was the joy of seeing sinners saved.  This should be the joy of every follower of His, the spur to his ambition.--Prophet and Kings, 172.

God has given to every man his work, and no one else can do that work for him.  Oh, that you individually would apply the eyesalves, that you might see your defects of character and realize how God regards your love of the world, which is crowding out the love of God.  Nothing can give you such power, such true self-reliance and nobility of soul, as a sense of the dignity of your work, an assurance that you are co-laborers with God in doing good and saving souls.

The Son of God came to this world to leave an example of a perfect life.  He sacrificed Himself for the joy that was set before Him, the joy of seeing souls rescued from Satan's grasp and saved in the kingdom of God.  "Follow Me" was Christ's command.  Those who follow His example will share in the divine work of doing good and will finally enter into the joy of their Lord.--Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, 615.

That joy, to which Christ Himself looks forward with eager desire, is presented in His request to His Father, "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." [John 17:24].--Gospel Workers, 516.

                "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am,
                               that they may behold My glory which You have given Me;
                                  for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."
                              
                                                                 --John 17:24, NKJV