Everyone Is Looking For Joy
Everyone is looking for joy. Marketing companies know this. Every commercial promises the
same product: joy. Want some joy? Buy our hand cream. Want some joy? Sleep on this mattress.
Want some joy? Eat at this restaurant, drive this car, wear this dress. Every commercial portrays
the image of a joy-filled person. Even Preparation H. Before using the product, the guy frowns
and squirms in his chair. Afterwards, he is the image of joy.
J
oy. Everyone wants it. Everyone promises it. But can
anyone deliver it? It might surprise you to know that joy is
a big topic in the Bible. Simply put: God wants his children
to be joy-filled. Just like a father wants his baby to laugh with glee,
God longs for us to experience a deep-seated, deeply rooted joy.
The joy offered by God joy is different than the one promised at
the car dealership or shopping mall. God is not interested in putting
a temporary smile on your face. He wants to deposit a resilient hope
in your heart. He has no interest in giving you a shallow happiness
that melts in the heat of adversity. But he does offer you a joy: a
deep-seated, heart-felt, honest-to-goodness, ballistic strong sense of
joy that can weather the most difficult of storms.
Peter referred to this joy in the opening words of his epistle.
“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though
you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of
your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9 ).
Who was Peter addressing when he spoke of unspeakable joy?
He was speaking “To God’s chosen people who are away from their
homes and are scattered all around the countries of Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (I Pet. 1:1). Peter was speaking
to persecuted Christians–people who had been driven from
their cities, separated from their families. Their rights had been
taken. Their property had been taken. Their possessions had been
taken. Their futures had been taken, but their joy had not been
taken. Why? Go back to Peter’s Epistle again- this time in another
translation: “You have never seen Jesus and you don’t see him now.
But still you love him and have faith in him” (I Pet. 1:8). The source
of their joy? Jesus! And since no one could take their Jesus, no one
could take their joy.
What about you? What has been taken from you? Your
health? Your house? Have you buried a dream? Have you buried a
marriage? Buried a friend? As you look at these burial plots of life,
is your joy buried there, too?
If so, you may have substituted courageous joy for contingent
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joy. Contingent joy is always dependent upon a circumstance.
Contingent joy says I’ll be happen when…or…I’ll be happy if. I’ll
be happy when I have a new house or a new spouse. I’ll be happy
when I’m healed or when I’m home. Contingent joy depends
upon the right circumstance. Since we cannot control every
circumstance, we set ourselves up for disappointment.
Envision the person who buys into the lie of contingent joy. As
a young person they assume, if I get a car, I’ll be happy. They get
the car, but the car wears out. They look for joy elsewhere. If I get
married, I’ll be happy. So they get married, then disappointed. The
spouse cannot deliver. This goes on through a series of attempts. If
I get the new job… if I can retire… If we just had a baby. In each
case, joy comes, then diminishes.
By the time this person reaches old age, he has ridden a roller
coaster of hope and disappointment. He becomes sour and fearful.
Contingent joy turns us into wounded people.
Courageous joy, however, turns us into strong people.
Courageous joy sets the hope of the heart on Jesus and Jesus alone.
Since no one can take your Christ, no one can take your joy.
Think about it. Can death take your joy? No, because Jesus is
greater than death.
Can failure take your joy? No, because Jesus is greater than
your sin.
Can betrayal take your joy? No, because Jesus will never
leave you.
Can sickness take your joy? No, because God has promised–
whether on this side of the grave or the other–to heal you.
Can disappointment take your joy? No, because though your
plan may not work out, you know God’s plan will.
Death, failure, betrayal, sickness, disappointment. They cannot
take your joy, because they cannot take your Jesus. And Jesus
promised, “No one will take away your joy” (Jn. 16:22).
Is that to say your life will be storm-free? Is that to say no
sorrows will come your way? No. “In this world you will have
tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn.
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