I remember, in math class, my non-math-oriented classmates groaning when, on a test, there were problems to be solved. That wasn’t the main trigger, though. It was the line: ‘Show all your work.’ Yep. The teacher wanted to know that the process for solving was fully understood and followed. Most of the marks given were for that process, not for the answer. This effectively eliminated guessing as well as copying a neighbor’s answers. For me, fortunately, this wasn’t an issue, unlike those much-dreaded History tests with questions (in essay form, of course) demanding a full explanation of some empire’s rise and fall (which was always as clear as mud).
In Peter’s first New Testament epistle, he exhorts believers to be ready always to give an answer for the hope that is in them (3:15). And to show that he’s matured in his faith walk, he includes that this should be done with gentleness and respect. He’s come to understand that brash and argumentative confrontations only stir up strife. He’s agreeing with Proverbs 15:18 which says: ‘A hot-tempered person starts fights; (Peter should know!) a cool-tempered person stops them.’
So when I make the statement that joy is our centering place, I need to be able to ‘show my work’ and not just leave that idea hanging out there without supporting evidence. And one major source I would draw from is Psalm 16:11 where the psalmist tells us (from his own experience) that when face-to-face with God there is fullness of joy. That says to me that there is an atmosphere of complete and perfect joy emanating from God’s presence.
The Samaritan woman ran back to her village to tell everyone about the man she’d just met. Rather than being angry or offended at having her checkered past exposed so bluntly, she was filled with joy. Rather than the villagers responding with a yawn at the news of yet another man in her life, they seemed convinced that there was something so ‘new’ about her that they had to go find out for themselves.
And admittedly this is conjecture here, but what was it the soon-to-be disciples sensed in Jesus that at his invitation they immediately abandoned their work (and their father!) to follow him? Was it his smile? His strength of personality? Or could it be that they were drawn to a mysterious something? Could it have been his joy?
Peter again: “ . . . through believing in [Jesus] you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory.” 1 Pet. 1:8, TPT. By the time Peter wrote this letter, he had had time to formulate his personal experience of salvation in Jesus. He was telling his own testimony, one far distant from his hotheaded, early days with Jesus. He had become almost poetic!
Looking forward to seeing you saints saturated with ecstatic joy (of your salvation) tomorrow, 10 AM, 3 PM UK. PD