5月3日
标 题：基督的喜乐
经 节：现在我往你那里去，我还在世上说这话，是叫他们心里充满我的喜乐。（约翰福音十七章13节）
倘若说基督徒的生活要有与众不同之处，那应该是喜乐！耶稣屡次向门徒提及，祂自己的喜乐完全充满他们。当门徒了解，自己是神的儿女及与基督同作后嗣的身分，他们充满喜乐（罗马书八：16～17）。他们原本是死在自己的过犯之中，现在在基督里却是活着（罗马书六：4）。他们本来是无望的死囚，如今死亡已不能再威胁他们了（哥林多前书十五：55～58）。门徒拥有如此奇妙的基督救恩，怎能不喜乐呢？
不要拒绝自己是神儿女的身分。不要满足于没有喜乐的生活，每个基督徒都应该拥有基督内住的喜乐，这喜乐是任何生活环境不能夺去的。然而，惟有你允许圣灵在你的生活中彰显祂自己时，你才能得着这种喜乐。圣灵果子的其中一个特质就是喜乐（加拉太书五：22）。喜乐不像快乐，快乐由世事而生，喜乐则洋溢在你做的每件事情上。
耶稣并没有为你仅仅享有快乐、或是免除忧伤而祷告。祂为你祈祷，要让你拥有天父所赐给祂的喜乐。这份喜乐是一种神圣的喜乐，是由你与天父深刻而稳固的关系，所培养出来的。这份喜乐是坚固地植根于你与天父的关系，没有任何环境的改变可以动摇它。基督为你所祷告的是让你拥有这种喜乐。
The Joy of Christ
“But now I come to You, and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.”
(John 17:13)
If there is anything that ought to characterize the
life of a Christian, it is joy! Jesus spoke many times to His disciples about
His joy being complete and full in them. His disciples were filled with joy as
they realized who they were: children of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom.
8:16–17). They had been dead in their sins but were now made alive in Christ
(Rom. 6:4). They had once been helpless victims of death, but now death had no
hold over them (1 Cor. 15:55–58). With such a marvelous salvation experience
with Christ, how could the disciples be anything less than joyful?
Don’t deny yourself that which is your birthright
as a child of God. Don’t be satisfied with a joyless life. There ought to be in
every Christian a deep, settled fullness of the joy of Christ that no
circumstance of life can dispel. This comes as you allow the Holy Spirit to
express Himself in your life. One of the fruits of the Spirit is joy (Gal.
5:22). This joy is unlike any happiness that is produced by the world. It fills
you and permeates everything you do.
Jesus did not pray that you would merely be happy
or even that you would escape grief. He prayed that you would have the same joy
that the Father had given Him: a divine joy, a joy that comes from a deep and
unwavering relationship with the Father. It is a joy that is grounded so firmly
in a relationship with God that no change in circumstances could ever shake it.
This is the kind of joy that Christ is praying will be in you.
