Joy

Since the election I have been mulling over the meaning of the word "joy".

Why since the election? Well, I haven't felt very joyful with a new President who is so pro-abortion (at least in his official acts) and pro-gay . I haven't felt "joyful" with a new administration that seems to think, so far, that they, and only they, have all the answers to our many complicated problems.(I know, I know - the last administration didn't have all the answers either) I haven't felt too "joyful" with the appointment of the new Treasury Secretary who seems to have "gotten away" with HIS tax cheating, and is now in charge of our country's finances! And, frankly, I haven't felt too "joyful" for quite a long time about the way Christians are being treated in this country (am I the only one who notices this????).

My trusty old Webster's dictionary gives me several nice definitions of the word "joy": "the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; delight" ... "the expression or exhibition of such emotion; gaiety" ... "a state of happiness or felicity; bliss" ... "a source or cause of delight".

I have seen MUCH "emotion evoked by well-being, success", much "gaiety, delight" lately amongst our citizens. As I said earlier, I, too, can rejoice, at least, in the fact of the country finally crossing the color barrier in electing a President. But I haven't been experiencing the true joy many others are seemingly feeling. Because I cannot rejoice over the killing of babies or the pushing forward of homosexuality ... and we once again have a President who has already helped to advance these issues.

So, yes, I have been mulling over "joy", and what it means to me, as a Christian. As Christians we have a much deeper sense of joy, a deeper SOURCE of joy - the "meaning" of "joy" is much more than Mr. Webster puts forth. Christians can be joyful in the worst of circumstances. Christians can be joyful in the midst of persecution (which is happening someplace in the world even as I write this). Christians can be joyful even as the tears flow down their faces. And, yes, a Christian can be joyful even with the election of a President that wasn't my choice, for the reasons stated. As I thought about writing more on this subject, I came across one of my pastor-husband's articles, written for the local newspaper. I started to just take out a couple of quotes, but he says it so well in this article, that I am (with his permission!) printing the full article. For anyone who might be wondering, especially as a Christian, how we can still be "joyful" - read this. It explains it well.

Joy

In the summer of 1987 my family and I spent the month of July in the south of France. I was filling in for a friend, who was pastor of the Baptist Church of Draguignan, so he could direct a camp.

My duties included directing the Sunday morning worship, and conducting a Bible study and prayer meeting on Tuesday evenings. The Tuesday evening meeting was held in the home of an elderly couple, instead of the church. The husband had physical incapacities that prevented him from leaving his home, but he still enjoyed gathering with other Christians, so we would meet at his home to give him that opportunity. His wife was especially vivacious and joyful for her age, and did not seem overly exercised by the burden of caring for her invalid husband.

One Sunday morning I preached from the part of Jesus’ farewell discourse in the fifteenth chapter of John’s Gospel, where he talks about the vine and the branches. I especially emphasized verse 11 where he tells his disciples: “These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full”. I sought to explain that joy comes from staying connected to Christ, and not from the circumstances of our lives.

The next Tuesday, when I arrived at the home of Mme. Dieudonné, she thanked me for what I had said in the sermon, and then offered to tell me a story. I accepted her offer, and she related the following account.

When she was a young lady, she recounted, she had been in Geneva for a youth conference. Ruben Saillens, who was at that time the uncontested leader of the French Evangelical Protestants, was one of the participants. As she was sitting on a bench beside Lake Geneva one evening, he approached her. He shared with her a very short sermon that, she told me, she had never forgotten. He pointed to a bare light bulb in a string of lights over her head that had burned out, and said: “See that light bulb; its lost its joy. Don’t you ever lose your joy.”

She then told me that she had never forgotten what he said, and that she had tried all her life not to lose her joy. It was a simple story, and I probably would have forgotten it, had it not been that her own deep sense of contentment, in spite of her less than ideal circumstances, so underlined the truth of what she had said.

Her story illustrates two essential truths about Christian joy. The first is that its source is external to the person experiencing it. Jesus said it is “my joy”. He said that it comes from “abiding” in him. Paul called it a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Joy, from a Christian perspective, is a delight in life that runs deeper than the experiences of life. It endures in the good times and the bad, because it comes from neither, but is a gift of God. As sure as a light bulb has no light in itself, but draws its light from the electric current to which it is connected, the Christian experiences divine joy by abiding in Christ.

The second idea that stands out in the story is that joy can be lost. We lose it when we forget its source, disconnect our selves from the source, and think that we can find it elsewhere than in Christ.

C. Davis writes: “From a psychological perspective one cannot experience joy while being preoccupied with ones own security, pleasure, or self-interest. Freedom from inhibitions comes when one is caught up in something great enough to give meaning and purpose to all of life and to every relationship. God alone is the only adequate center for human existence, and he alone can enable us to experience life with joyous spontaneity and relate to others with love”.

Jesus stated it this way: “He who loses his life will find it”.

Submitted by:

Pastor, John Clayton

Wellington Baptist Temple