Skip to main content

Grace is the Root-Joy Series #5


Roots run deep.
So does grace.
Deeper than we often think.

In “Surprised by Joy” I said:

“...Grace should always be unexpected because it’s always undeserved.  And grace is always reason for joy!”

I didn’t realize the depth of that statement.  But, God’s truth runs deep, so what can I expect?

I wish I could say that I was deep within a Greek dictionary or conversing with a Bible scholar when I stumbled across this truth, but I wasn’t.  Rather, it was none-other than the infamous Wikipedia!  How appropriate that I would be surprised by truth from such a place, thus surprised by grace, and surprised by joy.

It states [and is confirmed by more reliable sites ;)] that the Greek word for joy is “chara.”  This is from the Greek word “charis,” or the grace of God.  
Joy is always rooted in God’s grace.

Because the joy listed in Galatians 5 is the fruit of the Spirit, we know that it is His work in us that produces this joy.  
Not only does the action-grace of God cause joy, but the imparted grace of God produces joy.

Joy “is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best in hard times.” 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_Holy_Spirit#Joy_.28Greek:_chara.2C_Latin:_gaudium.29)

We need not strive to sum up joy in our times of struggle because we already have complete access to it.  We have been given it in the work of the Spirit.  We must only be willing to receive His work!

Nehemiah 8:10 reads:
“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”
This “may be further understood to mean properly as ‘the awareness (of God’s) grace, favor; joy (“grace recognized”).’ ”
 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_of_the_Holy_Spirit#Joy_.28Greek:_chara.2C_Latin:_gaudium.29)

“The joy of the Lord is [our] strength because joy is the grace of God at work within our hearts.”

The observed grace of God is reason for joy.
Christ.
The at-work-in-your-life grace of God produces joy in His power.
Holy Spirit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expressions

I find myself drawn more and more to the expression. There’s something so moving about taking in the communication of someone else’s experience or in expressing your own. Words.  Pictures.  Stories.  Paintings.  Music.  Beauty. What else can we expect as creations of a undeniably communicative God? The one who penned His words for us, made unending images of creativity, wrote a story that spans all time, made the entire universe His canvas, is continually praised with song, and in whom are culminated all things beautiful.  And so we live forth His image and express here on this earth. The more you interact with these expressions, though, the more you begin to see that what really moves is not the penned letters or the captured images or the compiled sounds, but the heart of the communicator.   It’s in the expression of their experience that you begin to share their joy, to feel their pain, to enter into their journey.  It’s wh...
1 comment
Read more

Being with Jesus

This season of my life has proven to be one of many tensions.  Of foremost influence has been the tension between considering my own needs and limits and putting aside what I need for the sake of others.  In the midst of this season, I was struck anew by this section from Mark 6: vv. 30-31 “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’  (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat).” What peace it speaks to my soul to hear the Savior lead them to rest, knowing their physical needs after a time of preaching which had likely left them worn out and a  return to being surrounded by people and even kept from eating. But then I kept reading... “They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.  The people saw them going and many recognized them and ran ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Death to Life

It’s good Friday.   The words of Bonhoeffer ruminate in my head and the world around me vacillates between winter and spring. The day, the words, the surroundings speak of death. Those trailing flowers I pass by every day on my way to work have moved from tiny buds to full-fledged blooms and I’m reminded that death always brings about life. The words of a wise man, spoken years ago in a time of vision seeming to die, ring in my head again: “In order for something new to come, something has to die.” It speaks a hope over the death of dreams and a season that has made me aware of just how failing my flesh is.   The thoughts leave as quickly as they enter and I go about my day. I find myself skimming the newspaper handed to me by the man changing my oil.   My eyes are drawn to a section on chronic pain and I read about a newer perspective of doctors regarding this issue: the focus has shifted from attempting to take away all pain, to trying to re...
Post a Comment
Read more