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.)
Joy, like anything that pertains to God, is practical – and should thus be put into practice. Ecclesiastes 9:9a might shock many (most?) married men (and women): “Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity.” Marriage has been defined as two people working together to solve problems that they would not have had if they had remained single. Marriage has also been likened to a phone call in the night: first, you get a ring; then you wake up. Unfortunately, spouses can be demanding divas of disruption, misanthropic masters of manipulation, and nagging nabobs of negativity – not my spouse, of course, I hasten to add! How could anyone think such thoughts of my beloved! A little logic is always helpful: if we do not find joy right next to us, we can not expect to find it far away. A bit of the Bible is even more helpful: Ephesians 5:31-32 is a passage that compares the marital relationship to that of Jesus and His followers. If, then, our marital relationship is diminishing in joy or even seemingly devoid of joy, we do not need to despair. Rather, each one of us can determine to bring the joy of Jesus into our marriage. This is a place for the mighty joy of God to have practical, powerful, and personal outworkings.