Fullness of Joy
Have you ever noticed that typically wherever there are balloons, there is joy?
There’s just something about the bright colors and seeing an arch or bouquet of them that brings a smile!
Our hearts are kind of like balloons. Before the indwelling of Christ, scripture says our hearts are deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9) and that we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1)
When we accept Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit begins to breathe new life into our shriveled hearts.
As we begin to walk with Him, old fleshly habits and ways of thinking begin to fall away and we begin to grow and expand in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul prays “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fulness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19, emphasis mine)
The Greek word for “filled” in this verse is “plēroō” which means “to be pervaded (richly furnished) with the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, rooted as it were in Christ by virtue of the intimate relationship entered into with Him.” The Greek word for fulness is “plērōma” which means “to be wholly filled and flooded by God.” John 1:16 says, “For of his fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.” Like the continual waves of the ocean that crash upon the shoreline, His grace continues to pour into our hearts, and we experience the joy of His continual presence and the blessing of all His attributes that He graciously bestows upon us. The more we get to know Him, the more we begin to understand who He is and His great love for us. In response, our love for Him and desire to serve Him continues to deepen and grow.
We live in a fallen world though, and experience has taught us that balloons will pop if overinflated. Herein lies the mystery of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within the heart of a man or woman. “Can the finite contain the Infinite? … The finite can contain the Infinite, if you are talking about two hearts that love, one of them God’s and one of them mine…as long as we retain clearly in our minds the consciousness of the personal distinction between God and His child, so as that the child can turn round and say, ‘I love Thee’ and God can look down and say, ‘I bless thee’; then all identification and mutual indwelling and impartation from Him of Himself are possible, and are held forth as the aim and end of Christian life.” (MacLaren, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/maclaren_alexander/expositions-of-holy-scripture/ephesians/the-climax-of-all-prayer.cfm?a=1100019)
Note the progression of thought and the expansive nature of His love in the following verses:
“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8)
“We love, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
“For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” (Colossians 2:9)
“And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” (1 John 4:16)
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” (Ephesians 3:19)
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)
“That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7)
“Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.” (Psalm 43:4)
To know and experience the fullness of His love by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is indeed cause for our hearts to swell with fullness of joy!
