Please don’t tell me you have it or else I may be forced to start snapping pictures of you at random times to show you that you don’t have the joy of the Lord!
Pull up a chair. I think we need to have a chat, from one Christian to another.
I know what you are going to say. I’ve heard most of the excuses before.
“I’m just having a bad day.” How many days in a row is this now? Like 365 or more?
“Things just aren’t going my way.” I’m sorry, what’s not going your way? Jesus DIED for you to have eternal life, everything else is icing on that cake.
“Someone hurt my feelings.” Examine what they said, own what you need to own and let the rest go. Maybe they are having a bad day and took it out on you. Oh, that’s right. You’ve never done that before…
“My job sucks.” (Yeah I said sucks; you probably are going to have to get over that…) It would suck even more to not have a job in this economy and job market. I’m just sayin’. (People hate that phrase, I like it and am probably going to continue to use it, you might have to get over that too. Ha!)
“Life is just so hard.” Okay. And you are surprised by that? Who told you it wouldn’t be hard? ‘Cause whoever that was lied to you. Life IS hard but that doesn’t mean it has to lack joy.
“Nobody understands me.” Jesus does.
“I’m worried about __________.” Okay. Totally valid but that shouldn’t diminish true joy. It certainly would diminish happiness but joy and happiness are two totally separate things.
Okay, Christian. WHERE’S YOUR JOY? What’s your excuse? C’mon. Speak it out loud so we can talk about it. Feeling a little defensive? A little offended? Okay, I’ll talk first.
We all have bad days. We all have things that keep us up at night in fear or anxiety. We all have jobs that we wished would be better or easier. We all have people who say things to us that hurt or offend. We all live pretty hard lives. Those things are valid but the majority of us respond to them in ways that are not valid when we are supposed to be filled with the joy of the Lord. See, as far as I can tell Jesus came to give us joy so that we could get through the hard things with a heart that was fully rested and satisfied in Christ. You know the song, “Joy to the World, the LORD has come…let every heart prepare him room….he comes to make his blessings flow….” Why would we need to prepare him room? So his joy can be ours! And when his joy is ours, no matter what the day looks like, his blessings will and do flow.
Listen, I’ve been there. I’ve had a lot of bad days recently. Things rarely ever go MY way. I’ve been very hurt by some people in the past few months. I have definitely felt and been misunderstood by people. I have been worried about a multitude of things and people. Life hasn’t been a walk in the park for me in the past year. And yet I have a smile on my face every day that I can. And even when the smile can’t reach my face, my heart is at rest because I know I am held by my Creator. I have a choice in regards to my response. I can respond in my flesh or in the Spirit. And how I choose to respond will be evident to everyone else in my life. You will be able to tell by my tone of voice, my eyes, my body language, the way I phrase certain things, the ease in which I carry on with life. My mom said something to me a few months back that meant so much to me. It really blessed me. I had written something and it was written with my brand of humor (whatever kind THAT is!) and she called me and said, “You know what I appreciate about you Beth? I appreciate that you have kept your sense of humor through this season you are in. In the midst of everything you are still able to find laughter and humor.” She made me cry by telling me that! Because when all is said and done I want to be known as a woman of joy no matter what life hands me.
I’ve been observing Christians recently. And what I have observed is complaining, heavy sighing, nit picking, antagonistic, jealous, judgmental, ungrateful, and many other negative characteristics. REALLY? That’s what I want to say to them. REALLY? I want to grab them and a chair and sit them down and get to the bottom of it once and for all. We pick battles that aren’t battles. We create battles! Why do we see people who have terminal cancer with more joy than someone who just had a bad day at work? And what defines “bad day”? You didn’t get YOUR way? Aren’t we supposed to be the example? The standard? Oh we are, but not in the way Christ created us to be. We can only see as far as the end of our noses. We sigh and murmur and say, “But my problem is different, nobody could possibly know what I’m going through.” I have a news flash. It comes straight out of the Word of God and I can back it up with personal testimony if you need me to, “There is NOTHING new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11) Basically your problem, your bad mood, your offense, your situation is saying back to you, “Yeah, been here done this before.” I’m sorry to tell you, friend, that in the instance of the hard stuff of life you are not unique and your mood/problem/issue is not unique.
I said it earlier, maybe you didn’t catch it. I’m not talking about happiness. Happiness and joy are two very different emotions. Happiness is circumstance based; it comes and goes with the day and the people in our day. Joy is trust based; its strength is found in the level of trust one has in Christ. Joy looks at a hard situation and chooses to trust God in it. I love how the word of God educates us in what joy looks like. Check this out, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18) Scratching your head over that? Try reading it again, “Though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen, Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty, I'm singing joyful praise to God. I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.” Still not sure what the main point is? Even though your paycheck may not cover the bills, even though feeding the family is tough, even though things aren’t easy right now you can still have joy, you should have joy! Happiness? Eh. But joy? Yes! Why? Because God is with you, he is for you, he is behind you, and he has gone in front of you. Do you trust God to cover your lack? Do you trust God when someone hurts your feelings? Do you trust God when your day is dragging and you can’t wait to get home and into your PJ’s? Do you trust God to understand you when it feels like nobody else does? Do you trust God with your worries? Joy is so intimately connected to trust, you cannot separate the two. There’s no way I could have joy in God if I did not trust God.
Beth, what are you saying? Are you saying I’m supposed to walk around all the time with a goofy grin on my face when things are falling apart around me? Nope. Not saying that. Hey, ask my husband and my closest friends. There have been days when the smile doesn’t make an appearance. But ask them about my core. I’m hoping I’m right when I say they would say I still maintained joy because I was trusting God to get me through. Joy isn’t always seen or heard but lack of joy is. HUH? Just think about it. Lack of joy is seen and heard through all the things I mentioned earlier. Joy approaches the day with a restful spirit because of the level of trust being practiced. When we have joy we CAN’T complain, nitpick, judge, etc. The joy we allow to fill us gives us access to see beyond the circumstance so that we can praise God and offer a genuine smile to the world.
So Christian. WHERE’S YOUR JOY?
The LORD is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. (Psalm 28:7 NLT)
Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.
(Psalm 126:2-3 NIV)
1 comment:
put so perfectly. <3
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