Joy - A New Perspective

What does it look like to be joyful? Yesterday, we talked about joy being an internal, longer lasting emotion.   It is sustained by a source of pleasure and delight (Jesus) that is always constant, always present and given in abundance. So if joy comes from Jesus who is always constant and present, why don’t we feel joyful all the time? Are we expected to face the toughest times of our lives with a smile on our face, forcing joy out of ourselves to others? Do we think that is an expectation of being Christian?

Jesus had normal emotions. He wept when Lazarus died; He was angry in the temple when the merchants were in the court of the Gentiles. Jesus did not appear to be joyful at these moments, but what Jesus did in these times was point His focus back on God. He raised Lazarus from the dead and after he cleared the money changers in the temple court, He healed the lame and the blind. An immediate change of focus to His source of joy. We also have emotions that are meant to be felt and are ok to feel, but do not dwell in them and miss the opportunity to see and receive what He gives us. 

I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

-John 16:20-22

We all will have times we need to grieve, be angry, sad, disappointed, but our grief will turn to joy if we keep our focus on God. I have always thought God gives us glimpses of joy every day, but we miss them because we are not looking or open to receive them. Maybe we put too high an expectation on what we think joy is? Is our definition of joy confined to a feeling of elation? Do we limit the experience of joy to being an overwhelming emotion of happiness or gladness? Maybe the answer is to redefine our expectation to coincide with what life experience we are having at the time. 

My father passed away almost 15 years ago from a lung disease. A few days before he passed, I sat with him at night while he was sleeping and I grew tremendously fearful. It was a horrible feeling. I began to pray and God replaced that fear with peace. I wasn’t joyful over losing my Dad, but I was joyful having peace over fear. God’s gift of joy to me that night was peace and in that moment among the sadness, I had joy, defined through my thankfulness of God helping me through my grief. 

My mother had to start dialysis a year ago for kidney failure. Something we all dreaded, because it felt like a death sentence. But instead, she has found joy. Not in the fact she has to have dialysis, but in the circumstances and people God has surrounded her with. The very first day her nurse was an angel sent from God, I am certain. She stopped and prayed with my mom, and then explained how dialysis would make her feel better, talked to her about traveling with dialysis, and gave her hope she would continue her life as she always has, dialysis was just a part of it now. She helped my mom to find and focus on the joy rather than focus on the trial. Sometimes that comes in giving someone encouragement, or a nurse sitting and talking with her or praying with her, sometimes it comes in the acceptance that dialysis is a gift that gives her the chance to continue living. Something that seemed so awful in the beginning, God has given us joy, but it took my mom seeing it from His perspective to receive that joy. 

Jesus is always there, in every circumstance to give us joy and often that joy is given not by removing the circumstances from us but giving us what we need to get through them. Stay focused on Him, not your circumstances and pay attention to what He is giving you, and receive it as the joy He intends for you. 

Grace and Peace,

LeAnn Jones