The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20
As the seventy-two disciples began to come back from their first mission, many of them were ecstatic. “Jesus! You’re not going to believe it! Even demons listened to us when we used Your name!” They cried. “Lord, it was just amazing! The power was flowing out of our lives in rivers.”
Jesus smiled as He looked at them. “I saw Satan himself thrown out of heaven, and I’ve given you authority to smash his kingdom,” He replied. “It is not wise for you to place your joy in these things, though, because the foundation of your joy must be your citizenship in My Kingdom.”
When He had said these things, Jesus was so filled with joy that He began to laugh. Even though the cities of Korazin and Bethseda had not repented after He had just ministered there, Jesus’ joy had not been dampened.
“Thank You, Father,” He said. “You have hidden the secrets of Your Kingdom from the wise, and revealed them to people with hearts like little children.”
In this simple conversation, Jesus revealed to His disciples one of the secrets of a joy-filled life. He warned them not to derive their joy from the successes of their ministry, but from their citizenship in heaven. He did this because He realized their successes would not always be constant.
Just as Jesus felt rejection in the cities where He had preached, He knew that sooner or later his disciples, too, would encounter failure. Whether it was a demon that didn’t respond to them or a person who wasn’t healed, they would inevitably not always achieve the success they desired.
When they met with failure–and their joy was not based on eternal realities–they would end up joyless and despairing.
This principle is the same for you today: whatever profession you are in, it is dangerous to make your success the basis of your joy. If you do, you will find your joy will be fleeting at best, because it is based on what is temporal.
Although my successes and the successes of those I love have brought me tremendous happiness, I have never made the mistake of making them the sources of my joy. Instead, I have found that God’s love for me–and the Sonship I have been granted– are the continual sources of my joy. I say continual because, like God Himself, they never change.
As you ask God for the revelation I am describing, He will fill your life with a level of joy beyond anything you can imagine. This type of joy, unlike your happiness, will remain constant, no matter what your life may bring.
© Copyright 2005 by Jim Laffoon
