The Sunday before we left, I shared our journey through this adoption process with our church family in our Sunday morning class and the focus of the study was on John 15:11 (Jesus speaking), "I have said this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (literally filled to the fullest)." I told how this verse separates Christianity from every other religion, even separates true followers of Christ from unbelieving church attenders. The reason this verse is so profound is Jesus is showing here what should be motivating us to know Him and follow Him. He is saying that as we know Him more and follow Him more closely, we will experience a greater sense of JOY than we could ever experience otherwise. Therefore, what drives us to know Him more deeply, to follow Him further and to carry out His mission is NOT a feeling of obligation or a sense of duty, not out of a debt of gratitude (meaning feeling like we need to pay Him back) or out of strict obedience to rules. But what motivates us to know and follow is a heart overflowing with JOY! That concept is RADICAL! No other religion, atheism, agnostic, or even regular (lost) church attendees can ever understand this! Some will say "you mean we take the Gospel to all peoples, feed the poor, and look after orphans because we find great DELIGHT in doing it?" Biblical answer, "ABSOLUTELY!" I would go so far to say (because the Bible says it) that if we do it for any other reason than out of a heart of joy then we are doing it in VAIN! That idea makes no sense to the world, even to regular church attendees who have never truly experienced Christ!
All that said, it has been so amazing to see God's faithfulness in all of this! This concept is something I have known and even experienced many times in the past. One huge concept that goes along with this idea is that our capacity to experience His joy can grow (and shrink) (2 Cor 9:6-15). I will say that the depth of the joy of my experience here with our new daughter has been HUGE! She really clings to Amy, but interacts more and more with me each day (common response). Lately, in playing with her, she has been giving me the biggest grins and cackles and it makes me so happy! I can say with all honesty say that the joy from having her here and grinning at me FAR surpasses any cost to get us to this point! Many will say, "I have a lot of respect for someone who makes a great sacrifice to adopt a child." My response is a resounding, "I sacrificed NOTHING because I have GAINED more than I ever could have other wise. I have gained a greater capacity for experiencing TRUE JOY that only comes through knowing Him more and for me, to know Him more, He led me to experience the pleasure of having a daughter!" By definition, it is not a sacrifice if you gain more in the end!
I hope this perspective is encouraging to any of you who are looking to follow God to somewhere you have never been before or to do something you feel uncomfortable doing, but KNOW He is leading you to do it. Let me assure you, He promises a fuller taste of His joy and He WILL give it to you! Also, once you "taste and see that the Lord is good", you will never go back and you will long for more.
God Bless
Andrew
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