“I just want to be happy.” Have you heard that before, or even said it yourself? Happiness is elusive and fleeting. What makes one person happy may make someone else sad. Something we enjoy makes us happy. For example, I like to read. Reading makes me happy, especially if it is a book I have been wanting to read for a long time, and it has just become available. I also like to crochet. The finished project makes me happy when it turns out the way I had imagined it to. However, sometimes I don’t feel like crocheting. I do it even if I don’t feel like it, that is, go through the journey in order for the end project to make me happy. But is being happy the same as having joy? By definition, they are synonymous. However, it seems to me that joy has a deeper meaning of pleasure than happy. Joy also seems to be more long-lasting and permanent. You may hear an elderly man speaking about his deceased wife as, “she was my pure joy.” Meaning there was no one else he loved more. It is this deeper meaning of joy, true joy, that comes to mind concerning how we should feel about God, and how we want God to look at us.
Acknowledging Joy to God
Acknowledging joy to God often involves being thankful for who He is and what he has done for us. Being grateful for what God does for us, how He guides us through life, and how His Word is truth was spoken of many time in the Psalms. The Psalms shows us that having joy in God can be loud, raucousy and passionately celebratory.
Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth; break into song; sing praise.
Psalm 98:4
Joy can also come with being comforted and “cuddled.” As a child, I remember being rocked by my mother. There was no safer, more comforting place I would rather be than in my mother’s arms.
When I say, “My foot is slipping,” your mercy, LORD, holds me up.
When cares increase within me, your comfort gives me joy.
Psalm 94:18 & 19
Just as a child is comforted in her/his mother’s arms, so we, children of God, take comfort and find joy being wrapped in the arms of our Heavenly Father. We can also find joy when we are alone with God, listening to Him, and in His presence. When we take the time to be quiet, and focus on God. When we contemplate on who He is, what He has done, not only for us personally, but globally, there is an overcoming sense of true joy that pervades over us because we get just an inkling of how absolutely awesome God is. It is mind-blowingly amazing how this beyond-comprehension God takes the time to be involved in every detail of our lives. This brings about pure joy.
God has given us the ultimate joy in His Son, Jesus. God’s plan of salvation was the greatest gift of joy given to all mankind. Because of Jesus, and His sacrifice of taking our sins on His shoulders on the cross, we have true joy. When we accept His gift, we have eternal life. Really think about this. We will have eternal joy. Speechless!
The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find the Baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.
”Suddenly there was with the angel a company of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, and good will toward men.”
Luke 2:10-14
God Given Joy
So we see, true joy comes from God. If we are to experience joy, we need to experience God. As we experience God, we experience His love, and as we experience His love, we are able to love others.
As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you.
John 15:9-12
After Paul and Barnabas preached the Good News in Pisidian Antioch, the newly converted disciples “…were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52).” This tells us that when we accept the Good News, we are given God’s joy along with the Holy Spirit. As we grow and mature in our relationship with the Trinity, we are able to be truly joyful, because we know when we are in God’s will, He is the author of our joy.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
Also, as we mature in Christ, we are given the gifts of the Holy Spirit. As you can see below, joy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22 & 23
Isn’t it fantastic that joy is listed among the fruits of the Spirit? It just shows us that God as our Creator knows that we need joy in our lives. In other words, Unbelievers will know we belong to Christ because they will see His joy in our lives. We often read about how as Christians we need to have the fruit of the Spirit, but often, joy is overlooked as one of the fruits.
I’ll be glad when COVID runs its course and the world around us can see how much fun Believers have when we all get together. When I compare an Unbeliever’s get-together with a Believer’s get-together, well, there really is no comparison. We have so much fun and it doesn’t end in guests getting so drunk that they say and do things they will regret later. Our parties end in laughter, hugs and encouragement, because God is in the midst of the party.
We are to serve God in joy. This doesn’t mean that we are all Pollyanas, and we put a fake smile on our face, but it does mean as we interact with others, we are able to show God’s joy in our actions and words. When we show joy through our words, we can’t complain. We can, however, be encouragers, sympathizers, comforters and protectors.
So do not let your good be reviled. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of food and drink, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit; whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by others. Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another.
Romans 14:16-19
The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. When we live our lives in this way, we become God’s lights in a dark world. How great is it that we get to show the world joy?
We want you to know, brothers, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones, and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us through the will of God.
II Corinthians 8:1-5
The churches in Macedonia give us an example of how we can put our joy into action. We must first give ourselves to the Lord and then His joy will be shown to others in acts of kindness, justice and humbleness. True joy is a gift from God. If you haven’t experienced God’s joy, ask Him for it. He will be faithful to shower you with joy.
