Amen, Brother Beacon! Let us go forth in the great gospel harvest motivated by the loveliness of Jesus!!
The more time we focus on Jesus' infinite sacrifice, the more joy we find in His experience being wrought out in our lives. Only by the most universal law--by beholding we become changed--is lasting transformation possible. We need to look above the pull of the world, self and sin and fix our eyes on the glory of Calvary--the glory of our God becoming flesh to die in our place, to show us the depths of infinite love, and the power of His grace to transform us from being unrepentant rebels into obedient, willing, loving saints whose lives in continual complete surrender to Christ will inevitably bear all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we covet pain, toil and sacrifice for His dear sake!
"'If any man serve Me,' said Jesus, 'let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.' All who have borne with Jesus the cross of sacrifice will be sharers with Him of His glory. It was the joy of Christ in His humiliation and pain that His disciples should be glorified with Him. They are the fruit of His self-sacrifice. The outworking in them of His own character and spirit is His reward, and will be His joy throughout eternity. This joy they share with Him as the fruit of their labor and sacrifice is seen in other hearts and lives. They are workers together with Christ, and the Father will honor them as He honors His Son." {The Desire of Ages, page 624, paragraph 2}
The joy of Jesus is not a static joy--it does not only relate to a past experience, but it is meant to be exponential in its growth and blessing. While the devil is wreaking havoc on our world with the exponential spread of the coronavirus (for Satan is the author of all suffering, disease and death), we know that Jesus is simultaneously working an exponential miracle of hearts that are responding to His grace because they FEEL THEIR NEED of His help!! Oh, what a privilege it is to live in these closing moments before Jesus comes!! Let us spread the hope! You can share with those you love the opportunity to be blessed by the free completely online series "Hope Awakens," starting this Friday, April 17, 2020 at 7pm ET/7pm PT at hopeawakens.com! Let us keep our eyes constantly on Jesus!!