Good Morning All,
Habakkuk 3:18; “yet I
will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God
of my salvation.”
“Is everybody happy?” was the catchphrase of a depression-era singer named Ted Lewis. He would ask it and then answer “yessir.” This banter seemed to resonate with many of the people who listened to his songs or watched his shows. His band was one of the few that remained together during that era.
Is everybody happy? Given that we are in a far better economic condition than The Great Depression, we should be. Yet when you listen to people; they don’t like their job, they don’t like the way they look, they don’t like the way their life is turning out. The amazing thing is that often, if one phase of our life turns better and we should be happy, we simply focus on a different element in our life that we are unhappy with. So, many spend a lot of time unhappy.
The word happy comes from the same root word as happening which thus implies that happiness is something that happens to you. It is an event and can be very circumstantial. You can be happy when you make your last car payment, or your friends come over for the Super Bowl. Yet this becomes problematic; how do we respond when the car needs repairs or the friends go home? Happiness can be fleeting but God gives to us something far better than happiness; God gives us joy.
While temporary happiness depends on the circumstances, true joy can defy the circumstance. Happiness is a feeling whereas true joy is an attitude. True joy, true Godly joy, is that deep seated, deeply held, deeply settled confidence that God is in control of every situation, every event, every occurrence in my life. True joy comes from the knowledge that a loving, caring Father in heaven is looking out for us and protecting us from the devil’s harm.
This does not mean that the life of a Christian is an easy lot. In the Gospels, God promises his children four things in this world. We will have his peace, his power, his purpose but we will have earthly troubles. Yet we can find joy in the fact that God’s peace, power and purpose have defeated the world and its troubles. It is by living in joy that we show the world and our neighbors what faith in God’s promises brings into our life. We have the fruits of the Spirit love, JOY, peace, etc. It is no fluke that joy is listed this high in the list second only to love and serving as a bridge or connector to love and peace. It is tough to have true peace if we have no joy and everything is impossible without love.
We need to see that true joy is found, not in having or possessing but rather in being or existing in God’s grace as God’s children. True joy comes from the knowledge that, despite whatever the world throws at us; we are the victors through Jesus. This is our joy; God has reconciled us to himself and we have true hope in him-life eternal.
Father of all joy; guide me to walk in your joy and peace. Guide me to live in the certainty of your love. Grant me the peace to know the true joy that you want me to have. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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