Join in the Joy
Through the years, I have frequently preached about joy. It is more than an emotion (although it includes emotion); rather, it is a settled attitude, a stable and sturdy approach to life that focuses us on the things that matter now and forever. Joy is much greater and much more powerful than happiness, which is event or circumstance driven. There is nothing wrong with happiness. It is certainly better than unhappiness. Also, we have different personalities. For example, my wife is happy-go-lucky. Of course, she has every reason to be, being married to me. However, not everyone can be married to me. We need something more substantial than happiness; that something is joy. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
We have seen in previous days that joy is a blessed part of the character of God and that this joy thus is built into the works of God. A specific New Testament example is found in Hebrews 12:2, where we read that Jesus “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross.” God the Son’s situation was much worse than that of Nehemiah which we studied earlier. “Endured” is an understatement of the physical and, especially, spiritual suffering of Jesus: none of our words can adequately express the horror of our Lord’s sacrifice. However, it is clearly stated that “joy” was an essential factor in Jesus’ willingness to die for our sins. Because Jesus was and is fully God, joy abides in Him and works out to us in His stunning act of substitutionary atonement. Obviously, joy must be a powerful force for great good. This settled mindset of joy in Jesus should motivate us to cherish our Savior even more, for the salvation that He offers is a joyful salvation – joyful for us but also for Him. Without joy, salvation through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ would not be available, because the joy-filled motivation for the Cross would never have existed. Since joy is so important to our Lord, it must become increasingly important to us. Let us not settle for happiness when we can have the joy of Jesus.