For so the Lord commanded us, saying, “I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

When I was in college, a friend and I would ride our bicycles on the Silver Comet Trail outside Atlanta. It’s an old railroad from the 1800s that was turned into a paved biking and walking trail in the 1990s, but there are aspects of it that still feel like a railroad. It goes through remote areas, there are stops in different towns, but, most of all, there are huge tunnels.

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These massive tunnels were built to fit a train, so they would almost devour a couple people on bicycles. One tunnel in particular was very long, very tall, and it had a bend that blocked our view of the exit. So, for a few moments in the middle of this tunnel, we would be in this eerie darkness on our bikes, pedaling faster and faster to get to the end. Once we could see the end of the tunnel, the claustrophobic darkness eased, and the light from the exit would give us a sense of joy compared to what we had just experienced.

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That same claustrophobic feeling still comes for me sometimes in life. Whether it’s finances, health issues, or uncertainty about the future, we can feel like we’re in the middle of a dark tunnel with no end in sight. Without that light at the end of the tunnel, it feels safer to stay where we’re at. If we don’t see the end coming, who’s to say our situation will ever get better?

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The good news is, we don’t have to wait for our situations to get better to experience joy in the middle of the tunnel. Jesus is the light at the end of even our darkest circumstances, no matter what we’re going through.

Which brings us to the powerful scene set in Acts 13. The early Church had been persecuted, but it was growing like wildfire. Leaders were being raised up and sent out to continue the work Jesus had started, and there were times where people gathered to hear the gospel in astonishing numbers.

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In verses 47-48, Paul and Barnabas are addressing what the chapter says is “almost the whole city” of Antioch, and the message they share is incredible news. The good news that Jesus died and rose again so that people could have a relationship with God wasn’t for a select few – it was for the whole world.

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No matter someone’s background, race, socioeconomic status, or mistakes, they now had access to God through Jesus. That is the gospel, and the gospel brings us joy. It connects us as a creation with the One who created us. It brings us to the source of our life, and with that, the source of our joy.

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I love how the Gentiles’ response is recorded in verse 48: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Lord.” I’m sure many of the people who heard the gospel that day still had some difficulty in their life. Many of them, like many of us, may have felt like they were still in the middle of a dark tunnel. They were able to respond with joy because they saw that Jesus had brought them from death to life. Jesus was the light they needed in the middle, and they rejoiced at finding him.

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There is only one thing dependent on us living with true joy: Jesus. Our love for our jobs will fluctuate. We’ll have difficult seasons in our marriage. Problems will come up in our friendships. All of that is part of life. But if we’re expecting everything to always work out, then we’re basically asking to have no dark tunnels in life.

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However, when we look to Jesus as our source of joy, it doesn’t matter how dark the tunnel gets or how long we’ve been in it. Even if our situation doesn’t change, knowing there is a light at the end changes how we see our situation.

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Regardless of what your life may look like today, there is a reason to have joy. Not because of what you’re going through or what you’re capable of, but because the God who is greater than our situations has brought us back to him. And that is a source of joy that is at the end of even the darkest tunnels.

As you pray today, consider where your joy comes from. Is it dependent on you and what you want to control? Does it come from your plans working out? Or does it come from Jesus - outside of yourself and your circumstances and always available? Spend some time asking Jesus to show you the joy that he has to offer today.