Note: The following is another excerpt of “Made Perfect” by Dylan DeMarsico, this time from the sixth chapter: JOY!

In the first five chapters we discovered wonderful truths about the gospel. First, we learned that God dreamed of you before the world began. Second, the Son of God laid down His very life for you. Third, this whole thing is a pure gift—not something you can earn or even sustain on your own. Fourth, because of the blood of Jesus, you are perfect. And fifth—the greatest truth in the universe—you are one with Christ. He is in you and you are in Him. You died with Him, were buried with Him, rose again with Him, ascended with Him, and are now seated with Him at the right hand of the Father.

What a message! Now we are starting to understand why they called this thing the good news.

So what’s next? How do we live our lives in light of this message? While there are a lot of ways to begin to describe this new life we’ve been given, it most certainly has to start with joy. Joy is the mark of one who has heard, received, and eaten the pure gospel.

One of the main reasons the Father sent His Son into the world was so God could share His joy with us. Jesus made this known when He prayed to the Father at the end of His ministry: “But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13).

Jesus bled and died so that we’d have a share in His everlasting joy. “Enter into the joy of your Master,” Jesus declared in one of His most famous stories, the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:21).

In an even more famous parable, Jesus taught about the prodigal son and the day he returned to his father’s house. From that moment on, we see the father’s main purpose in the story was to celebrate. The father told the prodigal’s older brother, “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32). In fact, the father had so much joy about his son’s return that the party had “music and dancing.” And this wasn’t some nice little ditty playing quietly on the radio. This music was so loud that the bitter older brother could hear it playing while he was still drawing “near to the house” (Luke 15:25).

A close friend of mine has asked me on several occasions, “What does the prodigal son do after the party is over?” This question often comes with the assumption that the father only wanted his son home so he could eventually put him to work. But I believe that the party never stops! The apostle Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

For Paul, the party never stopped. He was in prison when he wrote these words about ceaseless joy. Even under lockdown, Paul understood that the father was still celebrating the return of His children. Yes, there’s good works to do in the kingdom, but the best kind of “works” come from a place of joy! The joy of our salvation is never something we “move on from” or “mature beyond.” Jesus said that after His resurrection, “Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22).

Joy is Our Strength

The secret superpower of a Christian is that they have joy even in the midst of suffering. The Bible says that the “joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The joy of the Lord actually has purpose to it. His joy gives us strength to endure the trials of this world.

All throughout history—from the early church where many were persecuted and killed under Roman oppression, to the time of the Black Plague where Christians like Julian of Norwich celebrated the cross of Christ, to African American believers finding songful hope in the midst of slavery and oppression—it’s been joy that has strengthened the hearts of men and women to persevere and endure.

And more than persevering, we are called to love. As believers, we have been called to love others just as Jesus loved us (John 13:34). This can be very difficult! But we are strengthened with the same joy that Jesus had to endure the cross and love His enemies. He has given us His joy so that we have His power to endure anything life throws at us.

Joy is our strength to do the good works that God has prepared for us. Paul wrote that we are God’s “workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). The Greek word for “workmanship” is poiēma, which is where we get the English word “poem.” You can picture our lives as “God’s poetry.” It’s like God is “freestyling” each day, joyfully giving us breath and existence. His poetic words of life literally sustain our being and propel us into the good works that He allows us to do each day….