Fruit of the Spirit: Joy

Try and see this picture. Imagine happiness and contentment found each other at church. We fast forward to them married & now having a baby! The question is, how would that baby look? Well, I believe that baby would look like joy. Especially as one who walks in the Spirit, they experience a supernatural, everlasting joy. It’s interesting because happiness, contentment, and joy can all possibly define one another according to dictionaries and our own definitions. But if we take the journey to them individually, we can see similarities, differences, and how the joy the Spirit gives us is truly set apart.

First let’s dissect happiness. Happiness is an emotion that’s usually attached to an external factor. Close your eyes and reminisce on the pockets of happiness in your life. I hear my baby girl saying “dada” for the first time. I’m stargazing as I lay on a rock in Joshua Tree. I’m tasting the beef ribs with the mac salad from Matiki’s (if you still haven’t tried this place, I’m sorry to hear). But if the happiness that I experience is tied to an external factor, that means it cannot last forever. Even though I want to, I can’t constantly chow down on Hawaiian food. What if the food runs out? How can I afford to eat it all the time?  Happiness is a wonderful feeling, but not a permanent one. Nor is it stable.

Next, we have contentment. Being content is being satisfied with the now. My wife and I aren’t millionaires, we don’t have a huge house with a porch, cars lined up for our choosing, nor the pond with the rowboat from the Notebook in our backyard. But guess what? We can be satisfied with the roof that’s over our heads, food to eat, beautiful kiddos we love & life abounding constantly in our home. We can be satisfied in spite of the environment. What is the danger? Well, too much satisfaction can turn contentment into complacency. Complacency easily could drive ambition out of life and leave you stuck for years or erase eagerness from our human experience. And let’s be honest, would we pursue something we’re not eager about?

Joy. The best of happiness & contentment. We have the stability of contentment with the highs of happiness. And guess what? As we walk in the Spirit, He lead us to Him, where in His presence is the fullness of joy. So now my joy is dependent on Him who is everlasting. In the original Greek joy is chara, which literally means joy BECAUSE of grace. Now when do we not have God’s grace? Goodbye to fleeting happiness! Some may be able to relate, but Lord my name is written in Your book of Life! I don’t need anything else in this life as I wait for the life to come. But do you know God wants to do a new thing in and through you now? Do you know God wants to show you a new aspect of Himself everyday starting today? In Mark Batterson’s Wild Goose Chase, he explains how Celtic Christians had a name for the Holy Spirit called An Geadh-Glas, translating to “the Wild Goose.” We have no idea where the Holy Spirit will lead us, but the joy we have will give us the excitement, the energy, the passion to always chase after Him.

Joy that is beautifully portrayed in the Bible was shown through no other than Paul. The passage I’m particularly thinking about is Philippians 1:19-26 NKJV:

“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. And being confident of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith, that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ by my coming to you again.”

Straight off the bat we see contentment throughout Paul’s feelings of being with “us” or Christ as he makes the case for each. Paul obviously would love to be with Christ, but he also finds meaning of staying with the saints. And in the wordplay, especially “hard-pressed,” I see his happiness in each setting. Talk about a kid in the candy store. Rather I stay to be perfected like Christ or leave to be with the perfect Christ. How can you not be excited about either or!? The craziest part of this passage is that Paul was experiencing this supernatural joy in prison! He’s talking like he’s at home on mission trip doing a recap of his day. His environment did not interfere with the joy set before him. Chew on that for a minute.

If there is a lack of joy, I’d like to invite you to the dinner table with Jesus to have a talk. Everyone’s circumstances are complex and individualistic that can’t be generalized and solved in a blog post. This is not meant to be the end all be all, but a conversation stater with Him. In this very simplified definition of joy, look inside yourself to identify how the pursuit of happiness or the stalemate of contentment may be out of balance. If I’m defeated from constantly being unhappy, maybe I’ve been focusing too much on the external factors rather than Him who is constant. Remember, we have joy because of grace. Or maybe I’ve drifted from being content to now complacent. It scares me to death to make a move because I’ve grown so accustomed to my environment. How about I don’t really care what God does because frankly, I’ve lost hope He will do something in my life. Unanswered prayers have been stacked up high and I can’t handle praying to Him because I have to pass by that pile of prayers again.

Whatever the case may be, remember the flesh wants to give you a counterfeit joy with instant gratification and no substance. Your life won’t be anything unless it’s like these Instagram influencers. You need to run back to your situation-ship so you can get the attention and feel wanted. If I just had this job no matter the cause I can finally rejoice and be someone. If I get high or pick up the bottle maybe I can get numb enough to not feel nor remember what is getting me down. Food is always socially acceptable, so it doesn’t matter how much I need to eat to make myself feel good. The list goes on and on. Our flesh is a wild beast that can never be fully satisfied. We can’t fill the hole in our hearts with instant gratification. We need the fullness of His joy.

Everyday. Every hour. Every minute.