Joy!

I’m still listening to a ton of The Art of Celebration here. As you can see in their video, the album is all about JOY. Oh, you want to talk about joy, you say? Let’s do it! We’ll look at it and then talk about why it’s important.

Joy isn’t happiness. Happiness is an emotion and is circumstance-dependent. When good things happen to you, you become happy. When bad things happen to you, you cease to be happy. Hopefully the things of the Lord cheer you up and give you happiness, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Joy is deeper, and harder.

Joy is an act- a discipline. Something you DO. It’s not an emotion. While there is something emotional about it, it’s a kind of deep-seated, different sort. (Joy feels good in a much deeper way than happiness ever will.) It persists in the midst of trouble or hardship. That’s really the biggest difference between happiness and joy- you can have joy when life is rough. It’s a good thing, too, because life is always rough.

Joy isn’t easy, it’s a challenge. It’s hard. When you’re sitting in a car for three hours, how do you have joy? How can you be joyful when you are dead tired? How can you keep that cynicism from creeping in? No one really has it down. Not Rend Collective, not John Piper, not me, no one. We’re all striving to be as joyful as possible on earth.

HOW does joy exist despite bad circumstances? Joy is a choice. Unlike happiness, you can wake up in the morning, say “I choose joy!” and be joyful. It’s not nearly that easy, as I noted in the previous paragraph, but the point remains. In the midst of hardship and pain, we can choose joy. In fact, as believers, we’re called to.

WHY is joy important to us? I’ve never done numbered points before, but I thought I’d shake it up this time. Plus it helps me organize my thoughts and prevent rambles! Here are 3 reasons joy is important to us as believers:

1.       Joy is a direct result of salvation. Without God, true joy is impossible. He is the most exciting entity in the universe, and meeting Him results in uncontrollable joy. The apostles said they can’t help talking about Him! Jeremiah says his words are like fire burning to be let out! When you meet God, really meet God, you (for the first time) experience the joy that surpasses understanding. You don’t walk out of that experience the same way you went into it. You’ve tasted and seen- a joyless life is no longer quite good enough.

The sad thing is, the church in general has a tendency to lose this joy. Rather than enjoying God in childlike wonder, we legalize, we overanalyze, we cynicize. The list goes on and on; I am guilty of all of these things. No wonder God has to command us to celebrate! Leaving behind negativity and chasing after unconventional joy is freeing, and I for one am loving it!

2.       Joy glorifies God. It’s worship! Remember I call anything that makes God greater “worship.” How does having joy make God greater? Well, He’s the author and originator of joy! He invented it! As noted above, joy is a natural response to God’s beauty and his love for us. Isn’t that what all worship is? It’s a response- when you actually see God, you can’t help but worship him (think the apostles and Jeremiah). The bible says everyone will worship God when they see him- “every knee will bow” and all that. How great it is that we can have that heavenly experience on earth, and without condemnation!

3.       Joy evangelizes. I noted above that joy, true joy, is something that is impossible without God- joy always starts and ends with Him. That means joy is something believers have and non-believers don’t. However, since we’re all made to joyfully enjoy God, they WANT it. People like to joke about a “God-shaped-hole” in people’s lives- this is it! Joy! Before we meet God, we’re like engines trying to run on orange juice- we don’t have the fuel we really need (God)!

Joy is attractive to non-believers even if they don’t realize or admit it. Especially when joy is evident in tough situations, otherwise it can be mistaken (from the outside) as happiness. But when believers are in bad times, or even persecuted for their faith, and rejoice? That turns head. There’s no better witness for the gospel than believers who celebrate God in the midst of lives which seem to be turned upside down. And , speaking of evangelism, think of it simply: nobody wants to listen to a over-cynical, over-analytical prick. But someone who’s joyful and having fun walking with God? Hmm.

So what does this look like? To tell the truth, I’m not a hundred percent sure what joy looks like in every situation. That’s what I’m trying to discover right now. I enjoy you to go on this adventure with me- let’s choose JOY! WOOOOOOOO!!!!

Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.
-Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

(I don't know who he is either, but he's right!)