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The Christian life is meant to be difficult. I don’t think there has ever been an easy time to follow and serve Jesus. But one thing’s for sure: it’s not easy now.

We feel the pressure. Christians increasingly stand outside of the cultural consensus on morality. Early Christians were viewed as offensive, rude, peculiar, and a threat to a stable society. They were even called “haters of mankind” because of their refusal to bow to culture’s gods. They were mocked for their adherence to something that seemed foolish. Those days seem to have returned again.

Churches used to be able to count on rapid growth. Many models of ministry were built on the “launch large, grow fast” philosophy.

If we ever based our joy on cultural acceptance or quick growth, those days are over. We’d better get our joy somewhere else.

It was never a good idea to base our identities on outward success even when times were easier.

When the 72 returned after being sent on a mission by Jesus, they felt ecstatic. God used their efforts. I understand. Few feelings compare with that of sensing God work through you.

Jesus joined them in rejoicing. He told them that their ministries were part of Jesus’ own defeat of Satan. In ministry, we get to participate in what God is doing.

But then Jesus reminded them to get their joy not from ministry success but from somewhere else: “Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

Kent Hughes observes:

Joy in spiritual accomplishment must be moderated because it is not intrinsically abiding. If we place all our joy in the fact that the spirits submit to us, what will happen when they do not? What if Jesus sends us where there is no response to our giftedness? What will happen to us when successes are few and far between?

For all these reasons we must not base our joy on the devils that have been conquered, the crowds gathered, or the souls saved. (Kent Hughes)

Good words.

Enjoy baptisms and numerical growth. Who wouldn’t? Rejoice that God chooses to use people like us. I can’t get over the fact that God would choose to send and use us, and that we get to play a role, by his grace, in what he’s doing.

But we can’t base our joy on things going well. Our ultimate joy comes from the security of our relationship with God. God chose us. God loves us. Our future is secure. Our joy doesn’t come from what we achieve but by our security in him. Our boast isn’t what we do, but that God has accepted us.

As Charles Simeon said years ago, “Whatever other sources of joy we may have, they may all fail and disappoint us … But whom did the pardoning love of Christ ever fail to comfort? Who ever ceased to derive consolation from it under the heaviest afflictions?”

I don’t know what the future holds, although I sense that we may face some difficult days ahead. God will still continue to work, and even if things get hard, we can expect that God will empower us for his mission. But our ultimate joy doesn’t come from how well things go. Our joy is secure because it’s based on what can’t be taken away no matter how bad things get.

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