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The reason for our joy
The Old Testament prophets aren’t usually thought of as joyous because of the stern warnings they often had to deliver when faced with the Israelites’ repeated disobedience of God’s commands. Yet even in the darkest of moments, these men and women of spiritual insight caught wonderful, joyous glimpses of God’s saving power, His eternal Christ. Their prophetic insights would later be fully manifested in the New Testament, in the life of Christ Jesus, who gave humanity glorious evidence of Immanuel, or “God with us” (Matthew 1:23)—an eternal truth that embraces each one of “us” today. With the coming of Christ, the Son of God—announced by the angels as “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10)—unenlightened concepts of God gave way to the understanding of God as Love, and of man as one with Him.
“I and my Father are one” (John 10:30), Jesus said referring to his true selfhood, the Christ. His joy was anchored in his unity with God, which he manifested throughout his whole life. He prayed that his joy would find its fulfillment in his disciples, too. “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. … these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:11, 13). His healing works were the result of realizing man’s oneness with the Father—an understanding nurtured through his constant communion with divine Mind—and he unselfishly shared his joy of life in God with all who would accept his teachings, thereby making us the beneficiaries of the divine Truth he knew.
Jesus, the great Exemplar, proclaimed a gospel of joy—the joy of putting off a mistaken mortal mentality, expressed as a material identity, for man’s true selfhood as the spiritual likeness of God. Jesus understood what Paul would later write: that joy was a “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22), an attribute of God expressed in and by spiritual man, and which unites us with the divine Mind.
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
November 2, 2015 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Kathleen Cramer, Chris, Laura Bantly, Kelly, Joan Hyde
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On the web
Author Not Given
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The reason for our joy
Jürgen Kurt Stark
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Rock climbing with strength and grace
Wendy Marshall
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Progress is a law
Patricia Del Castillo
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Our Pastor’s healing ministry
Kathleen F. Lundeen
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Back to playtime
By Tarun, grade 4, Chandigarh, India
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The treasure of healing
Marilyn Wickstrom
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Quick recovery after industrial accident
William Buba
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Ear and throat pain quickly healed
Jeff Shepard
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A radiant sunset
Photograph by Anjuli Carr
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Fishers of boat people
The Monitor’s Editorial Board
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The humanitarian within each of us
Jan K. Keeler
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‘As in heaven, so on earth’
David C. Kennedy