My Loving King, the word happiness evokes the excited feelings that come from opening gifts, holding hands with the love of your life, being surprised by a “secret” celebration, being entertained with a comedian’s jokes or vacationing in an exotic place. Everyone wants to be happy and we chase after it by trying to fulfill unfilled dreams, spending money on things, collecting “stuff” and searching for new experiences. The problem is that happiness depends on circumstances. What happens when our things rust, the love of our live leaves us, our health deteriorates, our money is lost and the party comes to an end? At those times, happiness usually disappears and depression creeps in. In contrast to happiness, what You offer is joy. Running deeper and affecting us more, joy is the confident assurance that Your love is producing results in my life. Happiness depends on happenings … joy depends on You.
The real joy experienced by Christians comes from being content in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. In good times, my joy comes from seeing Your hand in my life and appreciating it. In bad times, my joy come from knowing that I am not alone and all things will work together for good. Real joy floods my life as I focus my attention and energy into getting to know You better and obeying Your commands. As Paul stated … “What is more, I consider everything as loss compared to the surpassing joy of knowing Christ Jesus, for whose sake I have lost all things.” He considered the “things” he had accumulated in his life as “rubbish” in comparison to the joy he experienced in his relationship with You. I want to get to know You better, learn from Your instructions and become a bright reflection of You and Your love. To make You come alive in the life of another brings me great joy.
When I am at a low spot, I’ve found that if I get outside of myself, focus on You and act in behalf of another, joy wells up in my heart. It is at those times that I can celebrate what it means to belong to You. When I share Your love and give myself to helping others, I am strengthened spiritually by the joy of service. As our relationship grows, Your joy becomes an ever present part of me. I am so glad that You’ve made clear Your path of life to me and filled me with the joy of belonging to You. To experience the fullness of Your joy, I must be willing to respond to whatever You ask of me. If I diligently dedicate my time, talents and resources to the furtherance of Your Kingdom, I will be rewarded with abundant joy. Therefore, I’m dedicating my life to getting past searching for happiness and starting to search for Your joy instead. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
Matthew 25:23 You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share in Your Master’s joy.