Never A Moment

If you are in Christ, there has never been a time in your life when Jesus was not fighting for your eternal joy in Him.

Let that sink in.

If I’m not careful truths like this one will stay up in the clouds and never touch my Monday. I’ll crank up Third Day and sing this with all my heart:

And just to be with you I’ll do anything,
there’s no price I would not pay, no
And just to be with you I will give everything.
And I would give my life away.

My mind will immediately go to the Cross and everything that the Lord Jesus has done to bring peace and reconciliation. I’m comfortable rejoicing in the truth that God did not spare His Son but gave him up for us all. It’s the other part of that verse that I have a hard time believing—“how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

That “all things” hits your lowest valley and your highest mountain. It touches your Monday and causes delight on Sunday. If God does the big thing—he’ll fight for your joy in the little things too. That “all things” is why I can say with confidence that there has never been a time in your life when Jesus was not fighting for your eternal joy in Him.

Jesus’ fight for our joy in Luke 6

I read Luke 6 with a different set of eyes the other day. Here is Jesus arguing with the Pharisees. Nothing new. I’ve read that a thousand times. But every other time that I’ve read this I’ve assumed that the argument is merely about truth. As if the Pharisees believe that 2 + 2 = 5, and because that’s dumb Jesus corrects them.

Truth is certainly an issue in Luke 6. The Pharisees have the Sabbath all messed up. They’ll neglect serving a suffering person on the Sabbath thinking that such a thing makes the Lord smile at their dedication. Silliness.

But this isn’t merely a truth issue. This is about the rancid fruit of error and the sweet freedom that comes with truth. When Jesus is arguing with the Pharisees in Luke 6 it isn’t fundamentally to change their minds. Jesus argues with the Pharisees in Luke 6 because it is part of his fighting for our eternal joy.

I doubt it was fun for Jesus to argue with these stubborn religious leaders. He knew that such an argument, combined with the many others, would end with his being nailed to a piece of wood and left gasping for air. But he does it anyways.

Jesus doesn’t only come to earth and die on a cross. He comes to earth, argues with Pharisees, and dies on a cross. He fights with them about the Sabbath because he is fighting for our eternal joy. He wants us to get it—even in the here and now—that Jesus is our only rest.

Jesus will do (and has done) whatever is necessary to give you and I eternal joy to the fullest. That is why I say there has never been a moment when Jesus was not fighting for your eternal joy.