Joy: The fruit of the Spirit (VI)

The proverb “Sorrow may hide behind laughter” (Proverbs 14:13) was certainly true for me. I was said to be the life and soul of the party. And I remember going to one that was dead, and changing the atmosphere. Then, when it was in full swing, I left walking the streets weeping, because of the pain in my heart. I did not know the Lord at that time! So often in the world we have to ramp up the tempo and the hype and the laughter, because if we stop or slow down, we will have to face the pain and we will weep! I hear so many people say that the one thing they want for their children is they just want them to be happy. We tend to think of joy and happiness as being the same, but joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is dependent on happenstance, on circumstances. Joy can be present even in the midst of sorrow, though obviously it can co-exist with happiness.

Tony Campolo tells the story of, as a little boy, going on a field trip to the Empire State building. He was running around on the top, and suddenly stopped and told himself “Tony, you are on top of the Empire State building.” He tells that moment he was feeing fully alive. What he was feeling was joy. It is hard to define joy, but do you know what he meant? I do, but for the longest time I had so little of it. For many of us the saying “Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1:12) is as true today, as it was in his day. In talking about the need to abide in Him, and for His Word to abide in us, Jesus tells His disciples “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). This prompted in me a line from chorus we used to sing “Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there!” And as part of the fruit of the Spirit, we obtain His joy (My joy may remain…) as we stay vitally connected to (abide in) Him, in and through His Word.

There are many joy killers, unbelief is just one of them. There is another chorus that we sing with the line “When I trust You I don’t need to understand.” In particular when we are there we can increasingly count it all joy when we fall into trials and temptations and difficulties (James 1: 2). How do we do this? We need to remember His faithfulness in the past (Hebrews 12:1). And then we need to look to Jesus “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross despising the shame” (Hebrews 12:2). If we have strayed, we need to return to Him. But whatever, we need to hide in His embrace, and to receive His comfort and Grace to help in such times of need. We need to practice rejoicing in Him (Philippians 4:4), in His mercy and in His Grace. And then as we abide in Him, He will increasingly fulfill our joy with “joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

Father, most of us are not there yet! Perhaps we have not even seen that it is available. Like many things, joy is one of the things the Evil One wants to steal from us. But he can only do this if we let him. So this morning Lord I am asking You to keep us close and to equip us to increasingly enter into the fullness of Your joy even in the midst of it all. And we will give You the glory in Jesus Name Amen