How about some Joy?

How about some Joy?

You're getting ready to go on the vacation of a lifetime. You're excited, thrilled, and super eager. Happiness overwhelms you. You are feeling really good.

You are about to buy a brand new car but not just any car. It is the one you've been dreaming about all year. Happiness floods you.

You are driving down the highway and realize you forgot your license at home. No problem, right? You can turn around and go back and get it, but then panic sets in, you realize you are 80 miles from the house. Now what? O, yea, you remember you put your license in the glove-box yesterday. You smile, you are happy.

Its good to be happy, but do you know what is better than happiness? Joy. From the way I see it, happiness is very circumstantial. Think about it. That once and a lifetime vacation comes your way and you are extremely happy, however, a moment later you find out that you have to cancel your plans because you have a business obligation you forgot about and can't get out of. All of a sudden you're not so happy.

How about that brand new car. Its what you've been dreaming about and you finally found it. But while you go through the paperwork you hear the salesmen tell you that your credit isn't good enough. You wont be able to get the loan. You were very happy. Now, not so happy.

The license in the glove-box? Happy, happy, happy. Wait, can't find it! Panic again. Not so happy anymore.

Happiness is a great feeling when things seem to be working out and going our way. But how quickly that happiness can turn into other things, negative things, when life seems unfair, cruel, or simply not going the way we think it ought to go. 

What we need in our lives is a sustained happiness that is not based on the circumstances around us but rather in spite of those circumstances. I like to call that.....joy. 

A fruit of the Spirit for the born-again believer according to Galatians 5:22 is not happiness but joy. It is a resource that God provides those who belong to Him and it is a characteristic of His which makes it eternal and divine. That means its not based on circumstances but is rather a sustained eternal delight set deep within us and provided directly by God Himself.

So, if you know Jesus as Lord and Savior you have divine joy within. Allow that joy to permeate and be well recognized in your emotion, in your thoughts, in your actions. God has given you a resource straight from Him. It never changes, it never dies off, and it never relies on circumstances. Enjoy the joy of God no matter what is happening right now.