Monday, May 30,
2016
May the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Philippians 4:23(NLT)
This week we are going to
investigate the joy Paul described to the Philippian church, the kind of joy
that only the grace of God can bring. All
throughout this letter to the Philippian church Paul's theme has been joy.
Indeed, rejoicing was his
life.
But sometimes tragedy will
test even the strongest faith.
A number of years ago I
stood with Ricky’s family, a 22 year-old boy, who had been killed in a freak
accident, when another vehicle locked bumpers trying to pass him. It flipped Ricky’s car off the road and he
died instantly.
Looking into the casket; it
was hard to imagine joy.
His mother and Dad shared
with me their son's great plans for the future:
Master's degree, advancement, family, and his love for the Lord; it was
an incredible tragedy how his life had been snuffed out.
His parents told me how
Ricky worked hard every day, never late; how he went to school nights, and how
hard he studied. It was hard to
conjure-up joy amidst all the stock phrases people nervously utter at such
times; words won't do!
There was lots of hugging
and remembering at the funeral home. But
I knew that would pass. In the morning
there would be a funeral service, and soon we would be at the cemetery, ready
to lower a young man into a grave, when he hadn't even begun to live.
Joy was AWOL!
And so I asked the Lord to
speak to my heart, so I could speak to this broken-hearted family. Often I'm a poor listener, so the Lord waited
until I walked out on the platform for the service. It was the faces of the young people; most of
whom I'd never seen before. The faces
were streaming with tears, disbelief and stunned silence. The faces were grieving as those with no hope.
The Lord then spoke to my
heart and the one-sided conversation went thus:
Russell, among those young people are those who have left
me out.
A few have never even heard the gospel.
Tell them I love them.
What a privilege! I not only rediscovered joy – I was downright
happy! This gave meaning to Ricky's
death. His friends were sitting there,
wishing for some kind of meaning – any kind of sense in the madness and chaos
of losing their friend. They were facing
the reality that if it could happen to Ricky, so young, strong, bright and
alive – well it could happen to anyone!
And their attention was
focused toward the pulpit, God's sacred desk.
It was the grace of God that spoke to my heart telling me to tell them;
it was the grace of God that covered that building with joy that day in the
face of tragedy.
Awesome
responsibility...Incredible joy!
For You Today
You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…have a
blessed day!
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: By Meghana Kulkarni from Pune, India
(Happiness), via Wikimedia
Commons
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