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.)
The joy that Paul speaks of in I Thessalonians 1:6, the joy of the Holy Spirit, is found also in the Old Testament. Perhaps the most familiar of these passages is Psalm 51. In Psalm 51:12, David writes, “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.” The immediately preceeding sentence makes the direct connection of joy to the Holy Spirit: “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” Before the day of Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit did not indwell believers; now, He does (I Corinthians 6:19; Romans 8:9). Because of the indwelling Spirit, Ephesians 1:13 everlastingly assures us that “ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” Our salvation is secure, but our joy of salvation is more problematic. Ephesians 4:30 says, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” This affirmation of our eternal security through faith in Jesus Christ reminds us that our joyless behaviors of anger, bitterness, unsanctified speech, and such bring grief to the ever-residing Holy Spirit. It is impossible to imagine a scenario in which we can know the full joy of our salvation while simultaneously grieving the Holy Spirit. Let us then keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) and know the joy of our salvation.