Jump For Joy! – by Eliezer Gonzalez
Jan 17, 2016 4545
I love the New Living Translation of the first part of 1 Peter 1:6:
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead (NLT)
Still, the actual Greek word that Peter uses, that is translated here as truly glad, and as in the KJV, literally means “jump for joy.”
The Christian can jump for joy even though he or she may grief in all kinds of trials (v6a). What is the reason for all this jumping around?
This jump-for-joy gladness is because we have been born again (v3), and we now live in breathless expectation (v3), because we have a priceless and incorruptible inheritance (v4). And even if we suffer now, nothing can touch us unless God permits it (v5).
There are too many mopey Christians who live in seem to live in perpetual gloom. Incongruously, they talk a lot about their faith in God, and about a wonderful future. Perhaps they have not yet got the message that Christ came so that we may have “life to the full” (John 10:10). The happiness that is promised to us is not simply a vague hope in the future, but the unshakeable reality of present joy.
And the happiness of the Christian is not fake. Peter says, “be truly glad.” This is deep, genuine happiness that we can enjoy now. Yes, there most certainly is “wonderful joy ahead.” That doesn’t mean there isn’t joy now. It just means that however good it may be now, it’s only going to get better.
Excuse me. I have to stand up. I have to jump for joy!
– Eliezer Gonzalez
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