When I was a boy, we could always find Joy in our home. But I don’t mean the exhilarating human emotion. I’m talking about the liquid dishwashing detergent, the one that promised, “From grease to shine in half the time.”
Curiously, Joy was a major sponsor for soap operas like “Search for Tomorrow.” If you’ve ever watched a soap opera, you know joy doesn’t figure prominently in many of the scripts. Anger, angst, fear, frustration, envy, jealousy, disappointment, and despair? Of course. But joy? Not so much.
What exactly is joy? And how do we achieve it?
For starters, joy isn’t synonymous with happiness. I might feel happy when something nice or fun happens to me. Because happiness and happenings are tightly intertwined. Take football games, for example. Fans experience happiness when their team scores. They’re all smiles, high-fiving, clapping and cheering. But that sense of jubilation quickly fades when the opposing team returns the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.
Joy is different. It’s an inner quality that endures despite external circumstances. In fact, the most difficult situations can result in the greatest joy. This is why the apostle James started his letter with this admonition: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
Note that James didn’t direct his readers to be happy. God doesn’t command a happy response when we receive a scary health diagnosis, encounter financial struggles, lose a job, or fail to receive the expected promotion. When a relationship with a beloved family member or close friend is broken, “Don’t Worry. Be Happy” probably isn’t the song that comes to mind.
Instead, the apostle exhorts us to regard it as “pure joy” when adversity becomes an ever-present companion. James clearly isn’t talking about happiness.
He and another apostle, Paul, concurred. Writing to believers in ancient Rome, Paul offered a similar perspective. He said, “…we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us” (Romans 5:3-5).
We’re to “rejoice,” Paul declared. In other words, to find joy in the midst of suffering. But how?
I remember my friend Dave, who early in his walk with Christ would often confide his struggles with his mentor. That mentor, also named Dave, would listen attentively, then smile and respond, “Dave, you’re in a great position.” In view of his challenges, my friend Dave didn’t regard those as being in “a great position.” But over time he came to understand what his mentor meant.
There’s a saying that “the strongest steel is forged in the hottest fire.” This isn’t a simplistic aphorism. In terms of metallurgy, heating metal up to high temperatures promotes necessary chemical reactions that transform iron into steel. Similarly, the fires of adversity and suffering can prove beneficial by forging resilient spiritual qualities such as perseverance, character, hope, unwavering faith – and joy.
We have no greater example of this seeming paradox than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Hebrews 12:2-3 points to Him: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2-3). This says Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before Him.” Wow!
The night before, when He would be betrayed, Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane, taking with Him the disciples Peter, James and John. We’re told, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death…” (Matthew 26:37-38). You don’t have to read between the lines to recognize that happiness wasn’t an emotion Jesus was experiencing.
Joy, however, prevailed. In spite of false accusations, brutal torture, being forced to Golgotha, and then experiencing the most horrific form of execution, Jesus’ joy was undiminished. Because He was fulfilling His ultimate mission: To become the atoning sacrifice for the sins – yours and mine, and countless others who would place their faith in Him. In ways we can’t humanly comprehend, all that Jesus went through was entirely worth it.
Someone reading this might be thinking, ‘I get it. Happiness isn’t the same as joy. But what if I can’t seem to find joy either? I had it once, but seem to have lost it.' In that case I’d recommend adopting the prayer of King David who, devastated by the guilt of his sins with Bathsheba, was desperate to be restored to a right relationship with God.
David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me” (Psalm 51:10-12).
As we discover in reading the rest of David’s life, God heard and answered his prayer. Spiritually cast in the refining fire, he emerged stronger and more faithful than ever. The Lord will do the same for you and me as well, if we sincerely seek Him.
No comments:
Post a Comment