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.)
To close out this series of devotional thoughts about joy, let us return to one of my favorite verses, Zephaniah 3:17: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.” I hesitate to comment on this poetically perfect and pithy paean, but note the extraordinary notes of joy. The joyful character of God must break out into expression. Astonishingly, this articulation of joy is about us. Moreover, this joy actually becomes a celestial song about you and me. Slip your name into this verse, and listen to God singing His words of joy about you and to you. It is a song of joyful love … of everlastingly joyful love.