Joy has always been one of those “feel-good-gospel” words. A longing, but rarely a reality. Or at least not a consistent one.
Do I see joy as essential to my life? Something that God insists on?
I think a lot of the time we see joy as two things: unessential and distant. It’s a luxury; the 2-week vacation circled in red among the other 50 weeks of a grueling schedule. Life is about surviving – and getting a little pleasure. Right?
I think it’s important here to pause and distinguish joy from happiness. Happiness is an emotion; circumstantial pleasure. Joy, God’s joy, is a state of being – a source of delight, recognizing a deep thankfulness.
So many things fight to take away joy. This is one of Satan’s most powerful weapons. Why? Because our loss of joy often breaks our intimacy with God. In turn, we settle for counterfeit joy.
Life is never going to turn out the way I’d hoped. Nobody’s going to come through. God has abandoned me. If He was here, I wouldn’t hurt. We listen to these subtle arguments and life tells us, “That’s true. Move on. Find what you can have …”
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that joy may be complete in you.” (John 15:11)
“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)
Our need for joy is so obvious. And yet it makes us really uncomfortable. Probably because it’s too close to our heart, to what we long for – too close to our fear. Joy is such a tender thing. Deep down, I think we resent it. We avoid it because it feels too vulnerable to allow ourselves to admit the joy we long for, but don’t have.
Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”
Joy as strength. I believe this. Thinking back on the times in my life when I have felt the most alive, when I truly felt I was living life to it’s fullest, these are the times when I was living out of joy – out of an overflow of deep thankfulness in God, and therefore, in delight.
“The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.” (Psalm 28:7).
When was the last time your heart leapt for joy?
Spending the sunny 83-degree day at Pekara Bakery & Bistro, I remember summer ... in Champaign. Picnic table umbrellas dance in the alley, iced-coffee shooting up my straw and sliding back down, softly clicking black keys with small white letters, auburn waves occassionally whipping across my face, reading Douglas Coupland's Girlfriend in a Coma.
