There are many experiences that cause us to weep with joy. It is touching to observe some beautiful act of kindness. It is stirring to embrace a loved one after an absence. It is moving to see someone come back from certain failure. It is emotional to extend or receive real forgiveness. It is uplifting to receive some unbelievably good news, behold the birth of a baby, view the rebirth of a struggling marriage, and witness a life in ruin radically changed for good. But as wonderful and sentimental as each of those occasions rightly are, they do not compare to this stupendous, heart-stirring, joy-producing, emotion-overloading, love-generating occurrence… Jesus died for our sins so that we might have eternal life. We were the ones in need of a beautiful act of kindness. We were the ones who were far away in need of love’s embrace. We were the ones headed towards certain failure in need of a comeback. We were the ones deep in sin in need of forgiveness. We were the ones desperately in need of the Good News. We were the ones dead and in need of rebirth and new life. We were the ones whose lives were in ruin and in need of change. And Jesus set His affections upon us, pursued us, gave us the faith to believe, and graciously rewrote our narratives with the ultimate weep-for-joy “they lived happily ever after” ending.
