HEAVENLY JOY!
In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away! —Luke 15:7
Ever lose something that was really valuable to you and then you found it? Remember the joy that you experienced over finding it? What relief I had when I found the wallet that had slipped out of my pocket. I was also relieved when I found my cell phone while digging a trench for an electrical line with a backhoe. Surely it must be under that dirt pile somewhere. Nope, there it was just off the side in the parking lot. Yes, we have joy when things valuable to us that were lost are found.
The verse above in context speaks to the joy of finding a lost sheep and a lost coin. But then we read that there is “joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!” Joy in heaven! Did you know that when you repented and called on the Lord Jesus there was joy in heaven? So it is also true of any person who repents and calls on the Name of the Lord Jesus! There is joy in heaven!
It is amazing that we can affect heaven by sharing the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and a person receives Him into their lives. When was the last time you and I were involved in that process of bringing joy to heaven this way? Oh, that today we would know that there is “joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God.” May it be so!
Dear Father, may I be involved in bringing joy to heaven today. Be please to work through me to draw someone to the Lord Jesus that there will be joy in heaven and that You would be honored. So be it!