Joy...

     Earlier today, I was talking with a good friend about their past experiences with a church. It seemed to me as if they have never had that sense of Joy that we experience as true Christ followers. Almost as if they were afraid of it, or there being some sort of “catch” to following Jesus. I mean, they were happy, there’s no question about that. But, there was no “joy”. There is a big difference between “happiness” and “joy”. Just look at the definitions alone: Happiness is just defined as Good fortune, pleasure, and contentment. All of which are temporary feelings. Good fortune can be replaced by bad fortune. Pleasure by displeasure. Contentment by discontent. Joy on the other hand is defined as the emotion of great delight or elation caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. That something is the love of our God, giving us that sense of pure joy, or elation that cant be taken away from us.
     I love 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - "Rejoice always." That's it. Just... rejoice always. You can even read it backwards if you want to, and it still makes sense. “Always rejoice". Isnt that awesome? Ok, well, I thought it was. Anyways, the verse commands us to rejoice. Just... Joy. Now, in light of recent happenings such as earthquakes, etc., there are plenty of excuses to be stressed, upset, anxious, scared, doubtful… the list goes on and on. But, not for us. And by us, I mean Christ followers. We are told to rejoice always. And its not like its mentioned only once. In Philippians rejoicing and joy is mentioned over 15 times. Just a few examples:
    
     1.) Philippians 2:17-18 - “…I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”

     2.) Philippians 2:29 - “Welcome him in the lord with great Joy, and honor men like him.”

     3.) Philippians 3:1 - “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the lord!”

     There should not be any one thing, person, event or circumstance in life that should strip us of our joy. Does that sound unrealistic? Does that sound impossible? Yes?? Well, why does it? The Bible commands us to rejoice. How often? ALWAYS.

     Ok, so how do we do it? Well, although joy and rejoicing is mentioned plenty in Philippians, it certainly is not the only book its mentioned in. Look at 1 Peter 4:13 - "Keep on rejoicing even to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ."

     Do you rejoice in your suffering? Do you rejoice in your pain, or in your difficulty? Well that is what the Bible calls us to do. It's sort of like, as your suffering escalates, so should your rejoicing. I mean, even on the night of His betrayal, Jesus has this talk with the deciples in which He leaves them many things. And one of the things that Jesus leaves, is His own is joy. He continually refers to joy, or full joy. He even says, "Everything I'm saying to you is so that your joy may be full." So pretty much, I'm leaving here, I'm going to die, I'm going to be crucified. You're going to have a lot of trouble in this world, you'll have tribulation. They'll pursue you. Those in charge will come after you, they'll kill you. If they've persecuted Me, they'll persecute you... and all that jazz, you know how it goes. But, I'm telling you all these things because I want you to have full joy. Crazy. I mean, even in these circumstances, the death of the Lord, the loss of Him who was their life... in all of that He said, “You should have full joy.”

     This is an amazing joy, something not of this world. A joy that belongs to Christ followers only, something that's in our soul, from the Spirit. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy..." This is joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. We have a love that is not a worldly love, a peace that is not the peace the world gives us. And we have a joy that is different. It's a deep joy. It's not a joy the world knows. Its from Jesus, and spread by the Holy Spirit. And no circumstance should cause the absence of that joy.