A Life of Joy
Proclaiming big joys in a bigger Christ
Joy, what a word. Merriam-Webster defines joy as "the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires."1 As Christians, we are filled with, and have access to, unlimited joy. But where does it all come from? Are we actually supposed to have joy all of the time? I believe the answer is yes. And yet, how does that work out in the life of a believer? This all seems well and good you would say, but how do I have joy when the world is all chaos and confusion? I would like to show you what I believe, that God has given us everything we need to be satisfied in Him, and that through Him there is unending joy.
John Piper speaks of God being so full of joy that He created the universe for all to share and partake in His overflowing joy.2 God is full of joy and is the source of joy. We see time and time again the Psalms are chock full of phrases exclaiming joy at being in the presence of God. We are also aware of the extreme highs and lows of the Psalms, where in a moment the Psalmist seems to be in the utter depths and then, looking upward towards God he is compelled to shouts of joy! (Psalm 126) I believe herein lies the key, how does the Psalmist so often discouraged by what is going on around him and how he sees the world, turn to joyful praise when he considers and meditates on God? Psalm 43 is a great illustration of this point. He declares that God is his "exceeding joy," (v.4) The first three verses are describing his plight against his enemy. Though he feels as if God is not with him he knows that his hope rests in God alone. His joy is directly connected with his relationship with God. And when he is led by God's light and truth, then he will have exceeding joy. (v.3-4)
To have joy is to be with God, who is Unending Joy. This joy comes from outside of ourselves, as it comes from our union with Christ. His joy is our joy, and the Spirit gives us this joy when he bears fruit within us. Galatians 5.22 "For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness." As we walk according to the Spirit and set our eyes upon Christ our joy will abound in this life. Unceasing and undiminished will be our joy when we are in His presence in heaven forever. But what about here now on this fallen earth? How does joy look when we are living out our days here on this Earth? Our joy comes from the Father, which means joy is directly tied to Him. That is how joy is attained and even maintained amid persecution. James proclaims in chapter 1 of his letter, "Count it all joy when you encounter trials of various kinds." This enduring joy produces in the believer a steadfastness that then bears fruit in our lives and we will not be lacking anything.
“Count it all joy,” Christ said to His disciples. Count, to be active, to enumerate my joy, all of it. It all comes from Christ, and Christ, being undiminished and unending, thus makes our joy like His. Only in Christ is joy possible. I would say that having joy is essential to being a Christian, to laugh all the hardier, to smile larger, and to love greater. But it also means, to suffer greater, to endure longer, to see further down the long road of life, and to not be disparaged. To not get caught up in the temporal happiness of this world, but to look forward, to those beautiful gates of Heaven. To be with Christ forever. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states, “The chief end of man is to love God and enjoy Him forever.”3
The beauty of joy is one of my favorite things to think about. The Bible is full of this beauty. This joy comes not from us, but from God, who gave His Son for us. An exterior joy that resides in us. So, we cannot lose it because we did not earn it. It comes from the radical change in our lives through our salvation in Christ. What can kill our joy on earth when our hope rests on something that isn't earthly? The joy that fills the Christian heart should be an unceasing fountain that flows from the unalterable reality of our salvation and the glory of God. Christ endured the cross for the joy that was set before him. We too, being raised in Christ must endure various trials counting them as joy.
This joy is one of the quiet strengths of the Christian, it should be bubbling just under the surface waiting for the moment to explode forth in evident joy. Joy for the glory of God and for the joy of others. We want our joy to be contagious and mysterious. We want others to see and wonder why this joy is still so present in the hardships of life. This is more than a cliche joy, but a slow burning fire that is waiting for moments to flame bright and high as a signal for others that our joy is never ceasing in Christ. And when the signal is sent it resumes a slow and steady burn, a warm reminder in us of who is the source of our joy. Christ is the source of our joy and we want to share that with others, to feed the flame so that it spreads to our neighbors. Joy is meant to be shared; it should be visible. That is the beauty of Gospel-centered joy.
Joy is unending because Christ is unending. In hardships, we can rejoice because that is not the culmination of our life. In victory, we rejoice because God has blessed us in abundance and we see and feel the evidence of the victory. So whether in trials or triumphs we can have joy but we must cultivate this perspective. We must behold Christ and love it. We must always hold in our minds the glorious truth of the Gospel and let that manifest itself in our lives. The joy will come naturally at this point because it is a fruit of beholding Christ in this way. Joy will overflow, it will burn, it will spill over from inside of us and be expressed externally. We want to be contagious, we want to share the joy of Christ with others. This is the beauty of Christian joy and I am not saying that this is easy, but it is worth it.
Another inspirational read from the heart of a genuine believer in Christ Jesus our LORD. As I read through to the finish, I was reminded of the Apostle Paul in the jail at Philippi after obeying God and preaching the Gospel, he was wrongfully accused and beaten. And yet, he writes the Epistle of Joy from this place. “Be rejoicing in the Lord always. Again I say, Be rejoicing. Let your sweet reasonableness, your forbearance, your being satisfied with less than your due, become known to all men” (Phil 4:4-5a). How could he do this?
Paul was a man of grace through faith. He wrote in Galations that he set his faith in the fact that Jesus had been crucified and Paul was there on the cross with Him. He was buried and raised to life with Him and the life that he lived, he lived by faith in the same Son of God. Paul was able to write these things from that jail (Acts 16) because he believed in positional truth and not circumstantial evidence. He was not going to be moved by what he was currently experiencing and pressing in on him to change his way. No, he pressed into that ever faithful Word of God given him and by prayer and singing stirred themselves up into an overflowing joy. The Scripture said that “suddenly” the jail shook opening the jail doors and loosening their chains.
That joy, a fruit of the spirit, is a witness. The jailer realizing what happened thought that they had all escaped and was about to commit suicide. Paul and Silas were able to stop him saying that they were all still present and no one had left. The soldier witnessing all of this, “fell down before Paul and Silas,” asking Paul what must he do to be saved. They told him “at once” to put his trust in the Lord Jesus and he and his household were saved. We are told that we would know others by their fruit. Seeing as how we have been ‘rooted and grounded in love’ then we can only produce good fruit. Joy is a fruit of the spirit listed right after love because I believe that it is one of the most visible fruits in a person’s life. Love, joy, and peace.
We cannot lose this joy. Thank you once again for sharing your heart and Godly wisdom.