Not so long ago I was asked to preach on a Sunday morning, and at the end of the sermon I found myself saying these words: "Dear friends, to live in love is life's only true joy." I don't usually think of myself as particularly quotable, but this little sentence has stuck with me. I don't know if it's remained with anybody else from that day, but I'm thankful that it's still with me. I like it because I think it is true.
Jesus says, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love." And then he says, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete." (John 15) Our joy is complete when our life is lived in love-when we abide in that perfect and overflowing love that is the gracious gift of God in Christ.
But I think it is important to notice this: our joy is complete not simply when we do loving things. It is perfectly possible to do loving things and be absolutely miserable. Everyone knows how easy it is to begrudge our neighbors the kindnesses we know we ought to show them-we humans are perfectly capable of doing a just and righteous thing and hating every minute of it! Of course, on some level we ought to be thankful for this-any compulsion that helps us or our neighbors do the right thing makes our common life a lot more livable. But this kind of begrudging compulsion is anything but the fullness of joy to which we as followers of Christ are called.
Our joy is complete not when we are forced or compelled to do loving things, but when we find the whole of or our lives caught up in and abiding in Christ's own self-giving love. True joy is found when we, through a miraculous gift of grace, find ourselves living and moving and having our very being in the love that God has lavished upon us. In this love we find ourselves servants of a needy world, and in this surprising paradox our joy is made complete. "To live in love is life's only true joy."