Rejoicing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

REJOICING

Luke 15:8-10

8 "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." 

NIV

Jesus is continuing to tell parables about how it is when a new believer comes to the saving knowledge of him and repents, becoming saved, born again, and a new creature in Christ. As we have already seen how we being Christ looks like and this is another example of when someone accepts him and how all of heaven rejoices over this new believer. But we should also know that heaven was rejoicing or should we rather say that heaven is still rejoicing because we repented. Jesus never gave a time frame for the end of their rejoicing when we repented. Perhaps all the angels of God are still rejoicing over us because we repented. Did all the angels of God rejoice just when we repented and then when on about their business forgetting about us and rejoicing over someone else who repented and then one to another and another. Or do they continue to rejoice over all of us all the time. This would also imply that God is rejoicing over us. This should if nothing else have some kind of profound influence on how we live. If we were always aware that all the angels of God as well as God himself were rejoicing because we repented it would seem we would live accordingly. But what does living accordingly look like? Would we also be full of joy? Would we be full of the glory of God? After all he says we are his glory. Would we live with praise in our hearts and on our lips all the time? Would we be rejoicing along with all of God’s angels? Or do we get bogged down under the weight of this life, burdened with so many concerns about our own situations, our own circumstances that we forget about all the angels of God rejoicing over us? Do we live as though God and his angels have forgotten about us and gone on to someone else? It would seem that is not the case, and God and all his angels continue to rejoice over us, and so let us lift our heads and hearts and walk in the presence of their rejoicing.