The Source

Have any of you heard of the law of 'transitivity?'  I learned this word as a mathematical law.  Generally stated, the law says if A = B and B = C then A = C.  It is basic logic, and it is a reminder to us that God has a sense of logic since God, as He created how the universe operates, also created the math that explains the universe.

You might be asking why I would bring up a mathematical concept in a theological blog.  My 'logic' here is fairly simple.  Last week we learned about an "if-then" statement made in Isaiah 9:7 ... If God is in authority (if He governs) in your life, then you can have never-ending peace.  If-then statements are often part of the mathematical process.  But God, in His word, gives us His laws that follow similar concepts.  Isaiah 65:18 is all about the transitivity of joy.  "Be glad and rejoice in my creation!  And look, I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness ... her people will be a source of joy."

Let's break this down.  First, there is God.  God has created all things.  Psalm 24 begins, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to Him!"  Isaiah says that God being the source of all things and God's creation are reasons to be joyful!  I went out Friday in my kayak and looked up at a beautiful sunrise in the quiet solitude of moving across the water.  It was breathtaking, but the God who made it is worthy of joy, worship and awe!  Be glad and rejoice that God is the source of these things ... nature, people, life!

Second, there is God's claim.  God claims the earth and His people.  I sometimes watch Gold Rush on TV.  These modern day gold miners still need to be wary of the devious schemes of people and the storms that nature sends to derail their efforts.  Claim jumpers are still an issue in 2021.  Have you experienced them?  Are their negative people, national stressors, economic concerns, depression, addictions, anger and jealous thoughts that steal your joy?  These things are claim jumpers that try to derail your focus on the God that says ... "I created everything to be good" ... "I made the people you might be demonizing" ... "I have made the heavens and the earth for my people!"  "All things bright and beautiful,  all creatures great and small ... all things wild and wonderful, the Lord God made them all!"  Be glad and rejoice that God claims us!

Third, God creates a place of shelter, protection, structure and goodness for us.  He wants us to live there.  And God has made our dwelling to be a place of happiness.  Don't let the falseness and rebelliousness of anger, self-righteousness, hatred, paranoia and fear become the message you hear and seek!  Lots of people want to take you to these places, and (in truth), all of these things can provide what is sometimes confused as passion and purpose.  These false doctrines will certainly provide energy for a time.  Then, you will find yourself in a joyless pit, far from God and far from people who love you.  If you are there, cry out to God, for He will lift you out of that pit, set your feet on solid ground and send you off singing joyful praises to the Lord (Psalm 40).  Live in the place God has created ... a place where we can rejoice in God's creation and be happy in the Lord!

Finally, remember where your joy comes from and that you, because you are filled with Christ, become a source of joy.  If Emmanuel (God With Us) = Joy and Joy = The Attitude of God's People/Possession = The Source of Joy Into God's World.  If God is with us and God's attitudes/Spirit are in us, then we should be able to both sing and express (with our life), "Joy to the world, the Lord has come!  Let earth, receive her king!"  In a world filled with claim jumpers that want to steal our joy, we are the people who should BE joy!  That's God's good word ... so how will you respond?  Randy