Joy

One of the great gifts that God bestows is joy, overwhelming joy.  Joy, defined, is the pairing of happiness and contentment mixed with delight.  Joy is not to be understood as merely pleasure, far more delightful than contentment, and much less fickle than happiness; it is dense.  Because of the complexity and depth inherent to joy, it warrants further discussion.

By way of introduction, joy is a response to worship and praise.  The presence of God is marked by two distinctly different but equal reactions, reverence and joy.  Although, the reverent response to the presence of God is beyond the scope of this discussion, but reverence is also met with joy (Psa. 92:4, 126:2; Job 8:21).  This should be the primary source of joy, that is, praise of Christ Jesus.  When we praise Him, truly worship Him, we will be filled with joy.  Therefore, if we do not feel joyful we should examine the sincerity of our worship.  Chances are that any lack of joy can be traced to a lack of worship.

Furthermore, it is important to remember that joy is a gift given to those who believe in Him (John 15:11, 16:24; Heb. 1:9; 1 Pet. 1:8).  Lasting joy is a gift reserved for believers.  Certainly unbelievers can, through common grace, possess glimpses of joy in the form of happiness or contentment.  However, the joy that Scripture describes goes beyond human concepts to a joy that surpasses human understandings.

Additionally, joy is a fruit of Christian character.  The importance of this distinction is that the breeding ground for character is suffering.  In this way, then, suffering grows the fruit of joy.  Scripture confirms this (Rom. 5:1-5; Phil 1:29; James 1:2-4).  Suffering serves to reduce and refine joy in the hearts and lives of Christians.

Because joy is essentially a spiritual matter, we know that flesh cannot cause joy.  If this is so, then we are reminded that no fleshly pursuit can prompt or cause joy.  Therefore, any perceived joy that we may claim to be derived from the flesh is ultimately not joy, but is to be thought of as a shadow of joy, more akin to one of its components.  Therefore, let us then pursue joy of a higher kind, to be received from the Lord!