A Specific Target

My wife was always drawn to things that reminisced of an earlier… simpler time in life.  Whenever we were on our two-night holidays alone together or camping in the mountains with the kids, she enjoyed our supply runs (for important items like ice cream) into the local hamlet and in particular, to the store that usually included a combination grocery, hardware and souvenir shop.  Once there, you could see the JOY of discovery written all over her face as she seemed to have the knack to pick up some old-fashioned container as a vacation souvenir as well as to add to her antique tins collection.

For years she displayed her hobby on the counter of the wet bar in the family room where she conducted the Berruto Family Homeschool.  The only problem though, was that her collectables tended to get hidden behind the array of school books, lesson plans and assignments, sewing projects and just about anything else that got set there when any of us were on the way through the school room that also led to both the garage and the backyard!

When I came across the boxes of her collectables, while unpacking at our new home in North Carolina, I had the inspiration to put together a nice wooden display on the wall in the family room where she and I seemed to spend a lot of time.  It was my hope that she would enjoy looking at them while being confined to a wheelchair.  I had a lot of pleasure designing the display and was happy to see that it seemed to bring back that familiar JOY that shown through her lovely brown eyes.

One of the first things that I did after I moved to Oklahoma, was to dig out the boxes of her collectables and reassemble the display on a wall in a very prominent place in what would have been her new kitchen.  Now as I glance at the wall, I can’t help but to think of her and of the JOY that each of the items on show brought to her.

When I think back of the 48 years that Piper and I shared together, I can’t help but to see the huge part that JOY had in our relationship, our family and in our ministry.  There have been many days lately, when I just burst out into joyful laughter as I glance at some of the pictures of her that I have hanging throughout our house.  It is like I take an instant step back in time and find myself re-living the JOY that we were experiencing when the shutter tripped on the scene.  But I’ve also learned of the important role that JOY played during the tough times in our life… and in particular… of the last eight years of her earthy existence.

This reality came into focus over this past Easter when I read through the Biblical story of Easter week in the book of John.  In looking over my notes for the last six days, it caught my attention that I had started each morning off by writing down a personalization of Jesus’ words to His followers in John 16:22 declaring for myself that, “In the presence of the Lord, my heart bursts with joy that no one is able to take from me.” (The Passion Translation)

The more I studied this statement, the more I realized of how our JOY was a specific target of the enemy of our faith.   From the moment we returned home from Bible School, we were met with waves of depression, doubt, unbelief and fear, from individuals outside of our home, toward what we were facing and in particular, with the course of action we had chosen to follow.  But as far as I can now see… our saving grace was found in Jesus words in John 16:22, as we daily saturated ourselves in the Word of God, stayed in His presence and thereby found ourselves full of his JOY that others could not take away from us.

The King James Version describes it as a JOY that “no man taketh from you.”  According to Thayer’s Greek Definitions, the word “taketh” implies the action of someone attempting “to lift” our JOY from us… similar to the way a pick-pocket will attempt “to lift” your wallet without you knowing it… or “by force” if necessary!  The Mounce Concise Greek English Dictionary also defines it as “to destroy” which leads me to think about Jesus’ words in John 10:10 where He stated that “the thief (ie; the devil) comes to steal, kill and DESTROY.  But I came so that my sheep will have life and so that they will have everything they need.” (God’s Word ©)

This morning I looked up many verses relating to the JOY of the Lord and discovered, among many other things, that His JOY is our STRENGTH (Nehemiah 8:10), it connects us with God’s MIGHT (Zephaniah 3:17), is a tangible result of the Lord’s COMFORT in our lives (Isaiah 52:9), is FED by God’s Word (Jeremiah 15:16), is where His PRESENCE is (Psalm 16:11), should have an important VOICE in our lives (Jeremiah 33:11), is seen as a REWARD from the Lord (Matthew 25:21) and of most importance to me and others who have lost a loved one, JOY REPLACES MOURNING (Isaiah 61:3).

One of the clinchers to me, was the fact that JOY was so important in the life of the Apostle Paul, that he wanted to finish his course in life with JOY being a mark of his work and his legacy! (Acts 20:24)

And you know what?  It also makes life FUN to live!  It makes you and I FUN to be around, and it makes it EASY to share the gospel with others in need!

What do you think about that?  Would you rather live a life of FEAR that in turn causes doubt, unbelief, anger and an all-around bad attitude?  Or a life of JOY that makes you see the world in the light of a whole new color of expectation… because you’re focusing on and thereby trusting in the Lord and His possibilities and NOT on man’s limited resources!

Here’s hoping that your “heart bursts with joy that no one is able to take from you!”