Matthew 28:8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

The women’s joy here is something Jesus talked about in the Upper Room Discourse. “So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.” (John 16:22) They hadn’t yet seen Jesus, but the angel’s pronouncement was enough to make them believe, and their joy level was incredible. Their fear level is also understandable, because angels are fearsome beings. My wife has seen some, and they are very far from the “cherubs” we see in paintings. We should be glad they are on our side! That said, it’s the joy I want to focus on here. There is a simple (some would say simplistic) song that has meant a great deal to me since childhood. “I serve a risen Savior; He’s in the world today.” When we really get it into our heart and mind that God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die for us, and that Son didn’t stay dead, but rose again to prove that He had provided eternal life for us, nothing in this world will be able to shake our joy. That’s why the Gospel is Good News. When Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection are no more than a “cultural myth” in our minds, we have little to no protection against the lies of the devil, and no logical foundation for abiding joy. It is when we accept God’s gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) into the core of our being that our joy starts to become what God intends it to be. When we have that faith and joy as a foundation, nothing this world can throw at us can shake us. Jesus warned us that in this world we will have trouble, (John 16:33) but when we are fully grounded in a risen Savior, that’s no big deal.

This is something the Lord has been working into me over the years. I think I was probably in the 6^th grade when I asked my mother how I could be sure I was a Christian, and she quoted the chorus of He Lives, the song I mentioned earlier: “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.” I was completely satisfied with that, and I have been ever since. When I was in college I attempted suicide through autohypnosis, slowing my breathing and my pulse, as I knew I could do from a previous experience. I had lain down on the floor of an empty room in a church and was well into the sequence, when the Lord told me clearly, “Don’t do that,” and I stopped. The amazing thing to me in retrospect is that I didn’t then go back to active, obedient faith. I was still in a very self-centered bubble! However, it wasn’t long after that that the Lord introduced me to Cathy, to whom I have now been married for over 56 years, and my outlook changed enormously! Since living in Omura I have had someone (not a Christian) introduce friends to be because “he wanted them to meet someone who enjoyed living.” Just yesterday I had a 100-year-old friend comment on my happiness, and the day before that I had a Christian friend say he always liked to meet with me because I gave him joy. Joy is a very blessed way to testify to the reality of Christ! I do get irritated, frustrated, and angry at times, but I need to stay anchored in the joy that is indeed mine in Christ Jesus my Lord.

Father, thank You indeed for the joy of having a risen Savior. Help me share that joy with more and more people, so that they too may know the joy of eternal life, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!