Every promise of God is “yes” for us in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20 ). We receive the benefit of every spiritual blessing because of Jesus (Ephesians 1:3). Having not spared his Son, the Father freely gives us all we need because of our relationship with Jesus (Romans 8:32).
Without a doubt, we are richly and wonderfully blessed because of Jesus. So much is ours in him, on account of what he has done for us. And we can and should rightly rejoice and celebrate all of that. We should have joy in what Jesus provides.
But is that enough? Does that go far enough?
That is, are we to make much of Jesus and look to him because he is useful? Because he does so much for us? Because he is beneficial? It might not be wrong to appreciate Jesus because of his usefulness, but is that the proper end for our affection for him?
In writing to fellow citizens of Jesus’ new kingdom, Peter speaks of the heart attitude growing in them:
Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)
For Peter, it would seem that the end point of this journey is to have our affections set on Jesus, himself, and not merely the benefits that accrue to us because of him. You love him, you believe in him, and in that you rejoice with wonderful, nearly unutterable joy. Our delight in what he does and has done for us should not end with that; we should press through those joys to find, behind it all, a someone in whom we rejoice and delight. We do not merely love what he has done for us, but we come to love Jesus.
When that young man, after thought and deliberation and saving and planning, sets up a special evening and asks that woman who has captured his heart to be his wife, it is a wonderful moment. And in that moment when, in asking, he presents her with the ring he has scrimped to buy for her and she takes the ring with stunned and tingling delight, it is a wonderful moment.
Right there we can ask: Should she have joy, experience delight, in the gift of the ring? And we would rightly answer: Of course! Absolutely! But if that young lady were to pick up the ring, run from the restaurant, and gallop down the street shouting, “What an amazing ring! Wait until my friends see this ring. What a great gift. This ring is the best thing anyone has every given me,” we would rightly conclude something was wrong. Of course she should delight in the ring, the gift of her beloved. But if she does not look through the ring, if she cannot look through that joy to see the someone behind that gift, we would rightly think something is wrong. If her joy in the gift does not lead her to joy in the someone, her joy has not become complete.
Jesus himself is the someone who is behind all our joys, all the gifts we enjoy, all the blessings that come our way. And in rightly delighting in and enjoying all he provides, we fall short of what is best if we do not enjoy him, love him, celebrate him, rejoice in him in all our joy.
