An Invitation to Overflowing Joy

I know you are busy and may also be struggling through the same seasons I’ve faced. There are seasons where we are juggling many things, where we are tired and worn, or where we feel just plain weary.

Sadly, we live in a world where most women would say the same thing. Anxiety, depression, weariness, and disappointment seem to be the basic descriptors of our lives. And many days, we can lack a sense of joy.

Jesus said that life doesn’t have to be this way. On the night before his crucifixion—when he should have been filled with the utmost anxiety and depression—He told His disciples: “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” (John 15:11, NLT) How could Jesus have such joy when He knew that one of His very own disciples would betray Him, that He would be arrested, tried, beaten, flogged, and that ultimately His death was imminent? And how can we too have this joy that overflows in the anxious, depressed world we live in?

The Christian Standard Bible translates that last word in verse 11 as “complete.” It’s the same word as “overflowing” in the New Living Translation. Other translations use the words “full,” “real,” “genuine,” “spilling over,” or “contagious.” However your translation puts it, this is the truth: Jesus wants us to have a joy that is so full, so real, so genuine, so overflowing that we can’t keep it to ourselves!

Three Pathways to Joy

In a world filled with anxiety and weariness, Jesus presents His followers with something markedly different. He offers complete, abundant, overflowing joy. And Jesus reveals three very surprising pathways to finding this type of joy: (1) pruning by our Heavenly Father, (2) the promise of His presence, and (3) our perseverance in His command to love others. It’s interesting that of these three pathways to joy, the first two are something He does in us, and the last one is something that we are commanded to do in response.

During this devotional, we’ll look at the things that lead to an overflowing joy in Jesus.