Rediscovering JoySample

Here is something true and helpful: The deeper our faith is, the deeper our joy will be. And the deeper our joy will be, the more we will share that joy with others. Take any (good) discipleship course, and you will find this to be the case—the more we know about God, the greater our delight in Him will be, and the more the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc.) will spill over! 

Facts become our friends as the fact of God’s love and gift of joy through history is unveiled to us as we go deeper and deeper into Scripture. 

When we were in elementary school, most of us learned about declarative sentences—the ones that make a statement, provide a fact or explanation, or convey information. Think, for instance, of the first statement of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Declarative statements in Scripture also help us to consider the link between faith and joy.

During his time of testing, Job declared, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth” (Job 19:25). His experiences and knowledge of God led him to that conclusion.

When David fled from Saul, David declared, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Ps. 27:13). So too, his experiences and knowledge of God led him to that conclusion.

During the Babylonian invasion, God declared His promise of future deliverance through Isaiah: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isa. 43:19).

When many abandoned Him, Jesus confronted His disciples and asked, in essence, “Do you want to leave, too?” Peter’s declaration, like those of his ancestors, was founded in his experiences and knowledge of a trustworthy and faithful God: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). 

As each person understood more about God and experienced His faithfulness, each had a greater ability to pave a pathway of not only hope and peace to God, but also one of joy during times of difficulty. Job, David, Isaiah, and Peter stood firmly fixed that even when things seemed dismal, God was with them—and this made all the difference. 

And how did all of these overflow? We—the church today—are the result of each man’s overflow! Each had a testimony that has been passed on from generation to generation. So do you. God never meant for His goodness and joy to be trapped in you like the proverbial cul-de-sac. No, He wants you to be a through-way so that His joy in you would keep going and going, long after you are gone. 

Reflect for a few minutes on Romans 15:13, and consider what it means that God wants to give you joy and then what that overflow to others looks like: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Tomorrow, we will look at practical ways to offer joy to others.