There are three oak bookcases in the small guest room where I am staying. The aging owner, slipping away into the grayness of dementia, has given to others many of the books once housed there. But many remain.
Books in Spanish and on teaching English to native Spanish speakers still fill the lower shelves of the case nearest the door. There are books on prayer and books on culture, and history books, and commentaries on biblical subjects. There are a few children’s books for the great grandchildren when they come, though the majority of those books have already gone home with them.
And there are Bibles: Bibles in English, Spanish, Creole, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and one in Ethiopian Coptic. Some are bound in paper and some in leather. Some are red, most are black, one is blue. There’s an Amplified Bible and an Authorized Bible. There are several copies of the Revised Standard Version, a New International Version, and a hardcover English Standard Version. Among them all there is a Hebrew Bible and a Spanish New Testament.
Different languages, different sizes, different approaches, but one message. In each of them God steps through the curtain that separates the human from the divine and boldly declares, “Here I am. See Me. Know Me.”
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of God’s love for us is that He willingly and powerfully makes Himself known who has no obligation to do so. So committed is our Creator to being known by us that He became a man, the infinite became finite, the eternal became temporal, the self-existent took on weakness and dependence.
Why does God become man? To reveal His true character and to demonstrate to us the depth of His love for us. The man, Jesus Christ, is God in human flesh, all of God and all of man in one person. From His own heart by His own lips He tells us, “I have come that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”
God reveals Himself in His word and in His Son for our joy . . .for my joy . . . for your joy. Knowing God and His love for you is the source of true and abiding joy.
People today, as they have for ages, seek joy wherever they think they can find it. Name the myriad activities human beings engage in and you can find someone seeking joy in that pursuit. The problem is not that we do not find a measure of joy in those pursuits but that the joy is both temporary and ultimately unfulfilling. We are looking for something more, something lasting, something as eternal for the soul as the soul is eternal in its being, and the joys offered in this world can’t fill the void the heart longs to see filled.
Only God’s infinite and eternal love for us, love fully demonstrated in the death of Jesus Christ on the cross on our behalf can evoke the joy we long for. The good news is that that love is readily accessible to faith.
Take one of those Bibles off the shelf and open it up. Turn to the New Testament books of Luke or John and read what God says about Himself and His love for you. Let Him show you how He loves you. See Jesus as He is for yourself and begin to find the joy God has for you.
God says, “If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me.” For those seeking real and lasting joy, that’s very good news.
Pastor Dale McIntire has served as pastor of the Cornerstone Community Church in Grand Marais since April of 1995.
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