Completed Joy

These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete 1 John 1:4

As I read 1 John 1:1-4 this morning, I began to ponder my own pursuit of joy. I do chase after joy. I do hunger for it. But, just as there is a difference between the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of joy, I think there is also a difference between the pursuit of joy and the completion thereof.

I’m trying to wrap my head around what it would me to have my joy be made complete. What does completed joy look like? How does it differ from the level of joy I pursue?

To be honest, many of my pursuits are still very temporal. At the very least, they are a mixture of the eternal and the temporal. But, the bottom line is that they are bound up in the things of this earth – the things that will pass away. If my joy is even partially bound to the perishable, then what will happen to that joy when the perishable perishes? It will be incomplete. In fact, it frequently is incomplete because the perishable is continually in the process of perishing.

Completed joy, at least according to my understanding, is joy that is not affixed even partially to the temporal and perishable things of this world. There is nothing in it that will ever pass away. Therefore, there is nothing that can rob even a morsel of that joy from my heart and soul.

That’s what I am challenged to chase after. I want the things that I do to be done in the pursuit of a completed joy. I honestly don’t understand with clarity what that means or how I need to change my behavior to get to that point. But, I am challenged to seek the Lord intentionally for those answers. The very thought that I could have my joy made complete just delights my very soul!