Author: Brayden Smith
With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation!
Isaiah 12:3
To begin our devotional, I want you to read through Isaiah 12:3 several times and have that in the back of your mind as we dive deeper into discussion. As you can tell by the title of this devotional as well as the verse that I have just asked you to read, you can see that our topic for today is all about joy. An official definition for joy is “a feeling of great pleasure and happiness”. The question that I would like you to answer is the following: What brings you joy in your life? I want you to honestly answer this question and make a list of items that race to your mind. After analyzing your list, I am hoping that if you are a disciple of Christ, that Jesus Christ is at the top of your list.
The scriptures paint the picture time and time again that Jesus Christ both provides us with salvation and is joy. If we are looking for joy in the world around us instead of in our Savior, then we are going to consistently be disappointed. Jesus is the only one who can provide us with true joy because he is joy himself. In our verse for today, it can be easy to read through quickly and miss the entire purpose of the simple yet detailed verse. When we “drink deeply”, or believe and follow Jesus Christ, we are to do this with pure happiness or joy because of the weight of sin that has been lifted from us. Jesus Christ is the “fountain of salvation” because he cleanses our sins, and because of what he did for us on the cross, we should be eternally filled with joy and gratitude. We ought to soak in that joy daily because he is the Healer and Redeemer over everything!
As a reflection, it is very important to make sure that we still experience joy in the salvation that Jesus has graciously given us. There are many moments in life that bring joy including family, sports, friends, conversations, and much more, but if Jesus is not at the center of all of that joy, then we need to make sure that he gets the credit. As this devotion comes to a close, I end with a challenge in which you would continually thank Jesus for salvation and to pray that Jesus would always be the center of your joy.