JOY

What is joy?
Oxford English Dictionary defines joy as ‘great pleasure and happiness’. Joy is also defined as ‘feelings of great happiness and pleasure,especially an elevated or spiritual kind’. Despite the fact that the Bible talks so much about joy, this element seems to be surprisingly lacking in the lives of many ‘Bible-believing’ Christians. Why are there very few Christians who are truly joyful? Is it that the teachings of the Bible are much too impractical, or is there something missing somewhere in our Christian lives today?

The joyful people:
It is always a joy and a pleasure to be around joyful people. I don’t mean people with some sort of artificially or fleshly-induced blabbery kind of ‘joyfulness’ with fake and superficial smiles, who, by the time you respond to their ‘hello’, are already talking to the next person! The joyful people I refer to are those with the quiet and dignified kind of joy that obviously has welled up from deep within their soul. The moment you see these people, you notice that their whole countenance lights up when they talk to you, and they smile not only with their lips but with their eyes! Oh, I love these joyful people! Everybody loves to be with them bacause they are real! They do not pretend to be something or someone they are not. They are confident but are gentle. They are patient and kind! They say what they mean, and mean what they say! When you are with them you know where you stand; they make you comfortable. The world needs and is looking for such joyful Christians.

Where does joy come from?
The kind of joy the Bible talks about is not a temporary and short-lived kind of joy that people experience from acquiring material wealth or worldly pleasures. True joy is like a spring of water that wells up from deep down in one’s soul and spirit, and it does not depend nor is affected by outward circumstances. No matter what comes in life, this deep seated joy remains unchanged. In fact, true joy grows day by day in direct proportion to the growth in intimacy of our relationship with God. Therefore:

• Joy originates from God: True and lasting joy comes from God alone. The joy that the world offers is short-lived and often comes with a price. Many times worldly joy later leads to pain, bondage and regret. On the contrary, true joy that comes from God is liberating, pure and peaceful! The Psalmist says in Psalm 16 verse 11:
“In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore”.
If you have not yet find true joy in your life, perhaps you have been looking for it in the wrong places.

• Joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: Joy is not a self-generated quality in a person’s life; it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit! As one lives in complete obedience to the guidance of the Spirit of God, the nine wonderful qualities of the fruit of the Spirit, including JOY, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22&23 are imparted to the person’s life by the Holy Spirit Himself.

•Joy comes from obeying God: Obedience to God leads to a clean conscience and pure joy. Jesus said: “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love.... I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”.(John 15:10&11). If you have no joy as a Christian, or you once had joy but have lost it, perhaps you should examine yourself whether or not you have disobeyed God somewhere sometime in your life. There is no greater joy-spoiler than disobedience to God!

• Joy comes from praising God! The Bible tells us to always rejoice ‘in the Lord’ (Phil. 4:4) No matter your circumstances, meditate on the awesome goodness and love of God and start praising Him. You will discover that the moment you open your mouth in praising God, your spirit is lifted up and all the gloom vanishes! A praising Christian is a joyful Christian!

‘Rejoice in the Lord always, Again I say, rejoice! (Phil 4:4)

As our rejoicing is in the Lord, outward circumstances do not affect our joy. The more we rejoice in Him, the deeper becomes our joy! Prophet Habakkuk summed up very well when he said:
“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheep pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour”. (Habakkuk 3:17&18)