Since “joy” is our theme this year, I have been contemplating how to recognize and implement joy in my life. We have all been taught that happiness is fleeting but joy is soul-deep, springing up in our spirit by the Holy Spirit Himself. And we know that joy is a part of the fruit of the Spirit. But how do I get that knowledge incorporated into my everyday life? I have never been one to think of myself as a spiritual giant, but have pursued that relationship with Christ that makes me rightly related to Him.
Elizabeth George defines joy this way: “Joy means all is well between the Lord and me. It is not merely an emotion, but the result of choosing to look beyond what appears to be true in our life to what is true about our life in Christ.”
What appears to be true in my life is often discouraging and disheartening, until I remember the purpose as stated in II Corinthians 4:7-9 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.”
Don’t we feel that way at times, like fragile jars – if just one more thing happens we will shatter? God reminds us that He delights in using cracked jars, in fact the more cracks, the more the light shines through! We fight hard against what brings the cracks instead of welcoming them as a means of displaying Christ through us.
Have you ever cleaned a drain by putting baking soda in and pouring vinegar over it? It bubbles up all over and cleans the junk out of the pipe. My humdrum life is like the baking soda, just a white substance that does its job whether it be a rising agent or a cleaning property. But when the vinegar is added, a bitter liquid made from rotting apples, God will bring the bubbles of joy and thoroughly cleanse us!
In John 15 Jesus teaches about the vine and the branches. A brief study of the passage reveals there is some pruning involved. Then in verse 11 He says, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” I am starting to get the pattern, aren’t you? The joy is a by-product of the hard times. I recently heard of a couple who lost their house to fire. They lost most everything but they found a mug that had been personally made for them. How did it survive when other things burned up? They remembered their friend saying he had put it in a kiln and fired it. It survived because it had already been through a fire, it had passed through the heat, therefore it was able to take more fire. Every fire of refinement God brings into our lives enables us to withstand the further fires! God allows us, even plans for us to go through the heat. Not to destroy us or hurt us, but to make us stronger! And then comes the joy, more deeply experienced because of the fire that refined us!
David says in Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy!” Fullness of joy, the cry of my heart, is found in His presence. So when I pursue Him and stay in His presence, there is joy!
My husband and I recently left what we thought was our retirement home and town to temporarily serve in a small church in Kansas. It was a good test for me to determine the source of my joy. Was my joy going to come from new friends or from some “success” in ministry? Would it come by gritting my teeth and determining to be joyful? The joy was quietly there as I ran to Him, the source of my joy! Psalm 43:4 “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.”
May your hearts be filled with joy today as you run after Him!
Thanks for sharing, Lois.
I’m really fascinated by that example of the fired mug withstanding the house fire–what thought-provoking implications!