Gravity Defying Joy

I was listening to a speaker a while back during the Thanksgiving service at my church (janevillewestside.com) and although it had nothing to do with the topic of his lesson I could not get a certain passage out of my head. Problem was I could NOT find it. After paging through all four gospels trying to find it I gave up and made a futile effort to pay attention to the message at hand. However, as I have often found when God is laying something on your heart, there’s not really room for anything else. So after the service I decided to find the missing passage. The passage was this

Acts 3
1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

Now the reason I could not find it was because I thought it was a miracle that Jesus performed (hence my frenzied searching of the gospels). Well…. It wasn’t Jesus; it was Peter and John. Now what captivated my mind on Thanksgiving from the passage? It was the phrase from verse 8 “So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.” That phrase, “walking and leaping and praising God,” reverberated through my whole being. This man being healed from his sickness could NOT CONTAIN HIMSELF! His joy defied gravity as he leapt up towards the sky pumping his arms and legs praising with an unrestrained joy! Over and over again he leapt with jubilee. Imagine the crowd witnessing this. A man bound to the ground for his entire life now flying through the town praising the name of Jesus. The testimony of this would be two-fold – not just the miracle but the residual radiating joy and thankful praise.

Stop. What’s happened to our joy? Although it’s true that the vast majority of us have not been miraculously healed from a life of lameness, we have experienced a much more altering, much more mind-blowing miracle still. We have been saved from the crippling shackles of sin; from an eternal all-consuming death. Often we’re told to fear the spiritual over the physical. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Why? Despite appearances, being spiritually crippled is far worse than being physically crippled. Curing one who is physically lame requires restructuring the bones and sinews of the body. However, to be cured from the crippling effect of sin requires a fundamental altering of our nature – it demands life where only death exists. It demands clothing of righteousness where we only have filthy rags. Furthermore, physical illness is temporary while spiritual death is eternal. When we are saved we experience the deepest most powerful miracle ever. We are given LIFE! The miracle of Calvary far exceeds the wonder of the lame man’s miracle! We have not only been cured of the eternal consequence of sin, we have been freed from the crippling constraints – the problem – of sin (to borrow a phrase from Eric Ludy). Where is our joy though? Why are we glued to the ground, our pews, our static lives, our spiritually monotonous singing? Why aren’t we leaping up and praising God? Where is our unceasing thanksgiving, adoration and praise? Remember what Christ did for you. Restore to us the joy of our salvation Father. Defy gravity people. Remember Calvary.