Cultivating Joyናሙና

Joy

In Scripture, Paul is particularly fond of the words joy and peace. You can see in Romans that for Paul, joy and peace are not just happy feelings, but key signs of the kingdom of God. They are the way we are to serve and please God, essential ingredients in our Christian hope. Joy and peace are evidence of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives! These words do not just describe a cheerful, contented emotional state. They point to something profound at the very heart of our Christian life and witness.

When I ask myself what brings me joy, four things quickly come to mind. Each connects with something very true about Christian joy as the fruit of the spirit: having a family, having a feast, having a faith, and having a future.

Joy fills me when I’m with family sharing the love that binds us together, or enjoying the company of close friends. Or when I open our front door and see the happy faces of our grandchildren, jumping up and down with excitement.

The joy of having a feast springs up when I get really good news, particularly if it was unexpected or anxiously anticipated—then joy turns to celebration. Think of the joy of getting news that a loved one had come safely through a serious illness or surgery, or the joy surrounding a marriage or the birth of a child. Many cultures celebrate such moments by having a great party-meal. We mark moments of joy with food and drink.

The joy of faith often comes when I am in church worshiping God with other Christians. There are moments when the words in Scripture or song are so rich, when they remind me so powerfully of what God has done, that my heart almost bursts with joy. 

I often bubble up with joy when I’m out enjoying God’s creation. I love the pleasure of walking or running in the open air. But there is another part of that joy—knowing that this creation is only a precursor to the new creation. So we look forward to our resurrected bodies in the new heaven and earth that God is creating. What joy that will be! 

All four of these reasons for joy in ordinary life are true in even greater ways of the joy that fills the life and heart of a Christian as the fruit of the Spirit. 

From Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit by Christopher J. H. Wright.