“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11, N.K.J.V.)

A church member caught a wave of excitement about serving the Lord and said to his pastor, “I’d like to do something to help the cause of Christ.” The pastor answered, “Well, if you are really serious, I happen to know that they are in need of volunteers at the Christian homeless shelter.” The man said, “Fine, I’ll go down there and make myself useful.”

Upon arriving at the shelter, which was located in a particularly seedy part of town,  the man told the shelter’s Director, “I’m here to help.” The Director said, “Great, you can start by standing outside on the street corner and inviting passersby to come inside and attend the chapel service that is about to begin.” The new volunteer agreed to do the job, but he was disappointed that he hadn’t been given a more glamorous assignment. To make matters worse, he wore his disappointment like a cheap suit as he extended his invitation to the bums and derelicts who were making their way down the street.

The more the man invited those societal outcasts to come inside, the more they rejected the offer, and the worse his body language and facial expressions grew. Finally, things came to a head when he asked one especially rough looking fellow, “Wouldn’t you like to come inside and hear about the Savior who has made me what I am today?” To that the fellow answered, “No thanks, I’ve got enough problems of my own.”

Christian, in case you haven’t been told lately, you make for a poor advertisement for Jesus when you go around looking like you’ve been reading the book of Lamentations all day. The fact is that people are tired, stressed out, and worn down by life. To quote the famous line from Henry David Thoreau, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” While this is pretty much the status quo all the time, it is especially true in these days of Covid-19, race riots, contentious politics, and all the other bad news that can be crammed into a nightly newscast. Therefore, the last thing people need to see out of you is a doom-and-gloom attitude marked by a hangdog face. Neither one of those conveys the joy that Jesus died that you might have and that others can have once they come to know Him as Savior.

Perhaps you’ve heard that well known acrostic for Christian “joy”: “Jesus, Others, and You.” In the spirit of this post, however, allow me to offer the different acrostic: “Jesus On You.” You see, just as our text verse quotes Jesus as saying that His joy remains in the Christian, that same joy should also remain on the Christian by way of body language and facial expressions. Keep this in mind, Christian, anytime you are dealing with others, and let them see the fullness of the joy that Jesus creates bubbling up from inside you. After all, if they don’t see that joy, why would they be interested in the Savior you claim has changed your life for the better?