Joy
What does that mean?
I know better than to think it's happiness. I've had good teachers in my life who have told me otherwise. My emotions tell me otherwise. People, money, contentment, jobs, status... they tell me otherwise, because all these things come and go. Yet why does it seem so easy to compare joy to happiness? It's easy to think of joy as being the "feeling" you get when things are going well, when you feel comfortable and content. Those times when smiling is easy and genuine. But I think we all know that life isn't always like that. Yes there are good times, but we've all had our ups and downs. So Joy has to be something bigger and greater.
Mr. Griffin said something yesterday that really hit me. And for the life of me, even when I asked him after the service to re quote what he had said, I STILL can't remember the exact words. :-) It was something like, "You can't have joy when you are full of yourself. Joy is letting go of you and letting the knowledge of God and what He has done take
your place." He said it so much more eloquently than I ever could, but my attempt at his words is what I learned.
Erica Mariany in a Poem she wrote ended with, "You- my infinite joy."
Or in a Rascall Flatts song, "I hear you find strength in your moments of weakness."
Where does this Joy come from? How do you aquire it? How is it possible to be joyful in the good AND in the bad? In the times when you feel strong, but especially in the times when you feel weak? When there's death, hurt, pain, and sorrow?
There must be an answer.
"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus,
who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." ~1 Corinthians 1:26-31
I think that joy comes from knowing what we were, and then knowing what we are now, or discovering and knowing what you could be and becoming that.
What we were. We were sinners without hope. Living lives focused on ourselves and our own needs. Seeking after things of this world that are meaningless.
What we are now. We are chosen. We are loved. We are saved. He took us who meant nothing to the world and gave us the gift of knowing Him. He took human beings who many times feel worthless and use them to share the most amazing gift ever given to this world.
God gave us the gift of Jesus. And 1 Corinthians says that Jesus is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. In the ASV or better know as the "Amanda Standard Version" I think if there were to be another word at the end of this list it would have to be Joy.
It is because of Jesus who died on a cross, sent from God, to become our righteousness, holiness, and redemption, that should give us joy. That God loved us enough to choose me... to choose you, who used to be nothing, and to love us and change us. To send Jesus to be our righteousness because nothing we could ever do could make us stand righteous before God, except for Jesus' willingness to die on the cross... to be our righteousness.
Your righteousness and
my righteousness. Jesus became our holiness because we used to be filthy in the eyes of God but because of Jesus we are wiped clean and holy. And Jesus to be our redemption because we are redeemed in His sacrifice.
So I think that knowing and learning and filling ourselves with these truths, and pushing aside our own truths, needs, desires, and wants, that nothing could shake us. It's when we stop thinking of joy as happiness that we can be truly joyful. When we are not focused on ourselves but on God is when we can find joy in the hard times that life
will throw our way.
So if you don't know my Jesus I hope you will think about Him. I'm still learning and growing, and figuring out how to make all I said a reality in my own life. It's hard. But the other great Truth is God is always there waiting when we are ready to let Him be our Joy. And even when we turn away He doesn't leave. But I can guarantee you, from someone who has looked high and low trying to find her joy in all the wrong things, it's been the times when I've been on track with God that I have been truly joyful. So I pray that as I work hard to find joy in my God all the days of my life, that you who are reading this would try as well.
Be Blessed and thanks for reading
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