Written by: Nina Bueno
Most of us on this campus are Adventists, and certain things define us. It could be having the perfect recipe for haystacks (no olives, no ranch). Or maybe it’s your family having the entire Ellen G. White corpus or the set of felts about her life (we do). Perhaps it was growing up making paper models of the desert tabernacle or practicing marching for a Pathfinder camporee. What defines us as Adventists can even put us into what I call “types of Adventism”: badventism, sadventism, gladventism etc…
But I wonder, have we been letting these superficial details of our church identity take over the true identity we have in Christ? What should really define us as Adventists, and more importantly, as Christians?
To be a Christian is to be a follower, a disciple and an imitator of Christ. It is to think, act, speak and love like Christ. We profess to be Christians. We say we have the love of Christ in our hearts and have been entrusted with the Three Angels’ Messages.
However, often we do not take have joy in Jesus as we should. We do not have joy in the assurance of salvation or desire to spread that joy to other lost souls. Our Sabbath-morning religion does not spill into our day-to-day lives. We may have the “joy, joy, joy, joy down in our hearts,” but it does not overflow to others. We are more sadventists than gladventists.
In the Bible, we can see God’s true calling for the church and how our actions should look. Even in the Old Testament, God’s chosen people were to “Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 96:1-3, NIV). Not only were they to rejoice and sing in the glory of the Lord, but to declare it to others, to “let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for He comes” (Psalm 96:13).
And in the New Testament, we read in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians about how their exhibition of joy helped spread the gospel to others. “You welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit…the Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaea—your faith in God has become known everywhere” (1 Thess. 6-8).
If only this could be said about us — that even in the face of severe trials, we could still be known as people who have so much faith in our God that we still rejoice! Peter echoes this sentiment, reminding us that Christ experienced both suffering and joy. “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Pet. 4:13). Thus, as we imitate Christ in our lives, our experiences will imitate His as well.
Friends, we can rejoice in the salvation we have in Christ! We may have joy in the fact that Jesus is Lord and that He is coming back again.We should not keep this joy to ourselves any longer; we should let it spill into every interaction.
Imagine facing the suffering in this life without the joy of Jesus. Imagine knowing the cure or having the medicine for a disease, but not sharing it with those who need it.
We must share the hope, love and joy that we have! Let us live up to the calling that God has for us as Christians. Let our joy define our actions, thoughts and words, both on Sabbath and every day. Our identity is in Christ; let us be gladventists.
