DISSEMINATING GOD’S GRACE WITH INFECTIOUS JOY
“This took too long”, said Bill Hayden, Australia’s former governor-general, when he was baptized recently into the Catholic Church at the age of 85.
The person who inspired him to reassess his lifelong atheism was Sister Angela Mary Doyle who had gotten his attention over the years as he observed her working among the poor, but also as she visited him on a regular basis while he was in the hospital recovering from a stroke.
Hayden said: “I felt loved and embraced by her Christian example. Every time she left the hospital, I felt a strong sense that I had been in the presence of a holy woman. So, after dwelling on these things, I found my way to God and the Church of Jesus Christ.”
Q: What was it about Sister Mary that influenced this politician to believe?
Most certainly it was not that she went into his room and danced a jig, told funny stories or put on “airs”.
This lovely lady conducted herself around unbelievers the same as believers - unpretentiously - just Sister Mary, oozing infectious joy - experienced by those in whom God’s Spirit dwells. She entered the hospital room “infected” with contagious joy – and Bill Hayden caught it!
Authentic joy is evident in the lives of authentic believers. Such joy can be as evident today as it was when Paul commended Christians at Thessalonica by thanking them for their example of Christian joy - I Thessalonians 1:1-10 . . .
The joy that had taken hold of these Christians welled up within them and spilled over to others for a very good reason - their new status as children of God “chosen”, “elected” by God the Father – a distinction that made them VIP’s!
The Word of God tells us that if we meet certain conditions, we enter into a new relationship with God who confers upon us the distinction of “sonship” so that we become “heirs and joint heirs with Christ”. The conditions? Repentance toward God plus faith in Christ as Savior and Lord – conditions that were predetermined then brought to completion by God’s Son Jesus Christ.
God our Father “chose” the Way by which He would accept into the Family of God ALL who call upon the name of the Lord . . . “elected” to redeem ALL who come to their senses and respond to His invitation.
Whereas ALL of us have been called, whether or not any of us agree to our Maker’s conditions and respond accordingly is a decision each of us makes - due to “free will” which God has granted to ALL, meaning: Each of us is free to accept or to reject that new position to which we ALL have been elected (illustration) . . .
The Thessalonian Christians had understood this theology of God’s plan and had responded accordingly - not by their works of righteousness they had been saved, but by the redemptive work of Christ on the Cross which, by God’s grace, was allowed to happen as a sacrifice for our sins . . . it was up to each of them to accept or reject God’s gift of salvation.
Due to their understanding and subsequent dissemination of God’s grace, the old apostle gave rousing thanks to God and commended these Christians for their “work” . . . their “labor” . . . their “endurance”. They refused to let up or give up.
These believers had gotten so caught up in the joy of their salvation that their faith was evident in everything they did . . . “agape” motivated them to go the “extra mile” if need be . . . hope kept them going constantly with no let-up in their devotion to God and to others - within and without the household of faith.
Would it be okay to say that these believers had been infected by the love of Christ . . . inoculated against the wiles of the devil . . . given a shot of spiritual adrenalin? Why were these folks “on fire” for God?
Think about it: They heard the gospel and responded to it during a time of great persecution, when followers of Christ feared for their lives. Yet, in the face of threats, they received the Spirit of God into their lives with great joy!
Now that they had the joy of Jesus in their hearts, would they clam up and flee for the hills where they would be out of harm’s way? (Well, for preservation of the Gospel, there was a time when the Church did go underground for a while.)
Not so, these believers of discernment and distinction. They were “fired up” because they had a story to tell . . . a Savior to share . . . a God to glorify!
These saints of God got up and went out into the “highways and hedges” to disseminate God’s grace as far and as wide as they possibly could, sounding God’s call to repent and believe, as if they were blasting forth with a trumpet! Their joy “compelled” sinners to repent, to believe, to receive!
There comes a time when God’s people have had enough of being taunted and threatened! They get up and go about their Father’s business as if there was nothing to fear! Thus, they become “imitators of the Lord” who steadfastly set His sights on doing God’s Will by spreading the good news of great joy.
Joy is distinctly Christian – different from happiness which mostly we think of in terms of having enough of this or that and therefore feeling free of worry. Joy springs from our innermost being of spiritual awareness and assurance. Only Jesus gives joy unspeakable!
Just as Jesus bore His cross - aware that He was doing His Father’s Will, and with the assurance that God was at work in and through His situation to bring about that which is best for those who love God - we who are sons of God by virtue of our new birth bear our share of the load with the joy that is set before us.
A thought to remember: Jesus bore His burdens in the shadow of the Cross. We bear our burdens in the sunshine of the Resurrection! Distinctly Christian! No other religion, sect or belief system can honestly make that statement.
The missionary E. Stanley Jones contrasted Christian joy with the way other religions practice their belief: The stoic toils miserably . . . the Epicurean seeks only pleasure . . . the Buddhist bows before lifeless statues . . . the Hindu goes through life disillusioned . . . the Muslim submits . . . only the Christian experiences joy.
People notice the difference Christ makes in the lives of Christians who “serve the Lord with gladness” - as a way of life . . . as a pattern of living . . . in such an unusual way that, as “imitators of Christ”, they ooze infectious joy!
A young salesman was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, “I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” The manager replied, “Son, take my advice: Your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.”
Sister Mary, oozing with “joy, real joy, wonderful joy”, made Bill Hayden thirsty for what she had! Well, she had Jesus; now, he has Jesus! So true that the way for a non-Christian to know what it is like to be a Christian is to see one.
May the joy we share as we go here and there be such that the people we meet along life’s way, whose paths cross ours, with whom we have the privilege of being around on a right regular basis, cause them to want what we have!
And may they know that our lives are filled with joy because we have Jesus and are trying as best we can to be more like Him every day! Amen.
