Longing for JoySample

Making Our Story Home

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” invites Jesus (John 15:9). Think about that! Jesus says, that when we remain in him, we find our home in his love, and we will experience the same divine affection the Father pours upon the Son—a joy that declares, “This is my beloved Son!” Our true home is in this love—and we can intimately know this love.

Sarah Edwards, a spiritual writer during the era of the First Great Awakening, recorded her own experience of God’s love. “My mind was so deeply impressed with the love of Christ and a sense of his immediate presence that I could with difficulty refrain from rising from my seat and leaping for joy,” writes Sarah, “I continued to enjoy this intense and lively and refreshing sense of divine things, accompanied with strong emotions for nearly an hour.” She’s not alone in this kind of experience. Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher, encountered God’s love after a near-death experience. He wrote a parchment capturing this encounter and carried it with him at all times. Here’s a snippet: “Fire! God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob not of the philosophers and of the learned. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace. God of Jesus Christ. My God and your God. . . . Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.”

This is what Jesus promised his disciples in the upper room. Jesus tops off the offer to dwell in his love with a promise of joy, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). Complete joy is the accompaniment of the immeasurable love that is our true home.

One practical way to cultivate this home in Christ is through a habit Jesus modeled and asked his disciples to imitate: regularly withdrawing from life’s demands to be alone with the Father in prayer. Take intentional steps away from busyness and distraction. Spend even a moment alone with God. Though it may be challenging to be still, Jesus invites us to withdraw and be with him, rooting us in his love and joy. More importantly, Jesus delights in spending time with us.