Joy. When you hear the word, what do you think of? A smile? Laughter? Christmas? A girl’s name? A movie? In the 2015 Disney movie, Inside Out, Joy is an animated feeling who shares space with all the other feelings. But Joy starts out not liking to share her space with others, because she does not like what the other feelings bring up. She wants the little girl whose head and heart she occupies to feel only joy. She is quite jealous of her space, and tries not to allow the other feelings to have a voice.
As humans, we have lots of conflicting emotions: we may feel both sad and happy at the same time. We may be terrified by a scary movie, yet be riveted by it and unable to turn our eyes away. We cry tears of joy and tears of sadness. We may be deeply in love with someone with whom we are angry. Joy is an emotion that is sometimes sought after, and sometimes rejected. Those who tend to be joyful all the time may be scolded: “You’re too happy; what are you hiding” in a half joking/half serious way. Those who tend to show no joy may be rejected and isolated because it’s hard to spend time with them.
The Bible has quite a lot to say about joy. The NASB 1995 version of the Bible uses the word “joy” over 200 times. Let’s look at a few points here.
Jesus and joy: Jesus’ birth was both heralded and received with joy; from the beginning, joy was closely connected with His presence. When the angel announced the birth to the shepherds, the angel said: “… “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;” (Luke 2:10). The wise men saw His star: “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” (Matthew 2:10). They knew what the presence of the star meant and couldn’t wait to be a part of the coming of the Messiah! In the Gospel of John, Jesus spent a lot of time speaking with His followers about the kind of relationship He had and would have with them, and gave this reason for doing so: “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:11). It was important to Jesus that His disciples understood and had joy. Jesus was able to accomplish what He did, to suffer and die for us, because He knew the joy that was waiting for Him on the other side of His suffering: “2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Joy sustained Jesus as He suffered unimaginable pain and humiliation to become our Savior. It is His joy that sustains us, when we know and understand the depth of our relationship with Him.
Joy as a fruit: Jesus taught His followers about the nature of their relationship so that they could have His joy, and so that their joy could be “made full”, meaning that their joy would be made perfect through Him. (Perfect joy is quite a concept! Let that sink into your spirit for a minute. We spend so much time in the world chasing happiness, when what we really need to chase is Jesus.)
After Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit (also called the Helper and Comforter) to His followers, just as He had promised He would, so they would never be alone. That same promise applies to us today; when we believe in Jesus Christ, we are born again into His family, and have the Holy Spirit. What we do with that gift affects our walk with God and our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 says: “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Notice the second fruit: joy. How do we get fruit? If you know anything about gardening or farming, you know that you have to tend to your plant in order to get fruit: you water it, feed it, make sure it gets light, and maybe talk to it (yes, some of us do that). So it is with your gift of Holy Spirit: feed it by reading the Bible, praying, spending time in the presence of the Lord, seeking Him out, and the resulting fruit will fill your life. Don’t feed it well, and you may still get some fruit, but it will be puny, not as big, flavorful and perfect as God intended!
The joy of the Lord is your strength: In Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah and Ezra were ministering to the Jews: “10Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The Jews captivity in Babylon had ended and they returned to their land and rebuilt the city. When the book of the law was read before them, they became sad and upset at how they had sinned against their God, and wept. God did not want the people to wallow in their sorrow for their wrong actions; He wanted them to rely on and look to Him. He did not want them to waste another day in mourning, but instructed them to set it aside, and instead focus on His joy. When we keep our eyes on circumstances, instead of on our God, we miss out on all He has to offer. Sometimes, those circumstances can look very proper: in the passage above, the Israelites had been in captivity because they disobeyed God; God had now taken them out of captivity and brought them to Jerusalem. They must have had many mixed emotions, relief, sorrow, repentance. But God, in His grace and mercy, told them to set all of that aside and instead put their eyes and hearts on Him, enjoy what He had provided for them, and be strengthened in the joy He was offering to them. God sees and knows our hearts. When we come to Him with honesty and humility, we do not need to live in guilt, sorrow or condemnation. He willingly forgives us and replaces our sorrow with joy.
When we accept the grace and forgiveness that God always extends to us, when we approach Him with a truly humble heart, His joy becomes our strength. We can overcome any challenges that are thrown at us and move those mountains!
It is not where we have come from, what we have done or not done that matters. It is whether or not, right now, we accept that Jesus, the Light of the world, is our Savior, that He died for our sins, is resurrected and alive today. He lives in us through the Holy Spirit! His joy is in us. I pray that you experience His joy, guard it fiercely from things that try to steal it and experience the peace and strength that only He can give. God bless you!
Living in the Light of the world 