Journey to Joy

Another key lesson that God has been teaching me involves joy. In coming to PRBI, I struggled a lot with having the joy that I felt I should have as a Christian. Over the past few months God has been shaping me and directing my heart to more easily find the joy that I long for.
In my Christian Life Development, the teacher said, “Joy is a blessing and gift from God. To pursue joy is foolish because it is a ‘by-product’ of a God focused life.” How true. I can recount a few phases of my life where I sought after joy yet never attained it. Now that I think about it, the joyful moments of my life have never occurred because I was seeking them. In fact, more often than not I was dissatisfied when I sought after joy. Why? Because, joy is merely a by-product. Galatians 5:22 says, “the fruit of the Spirit is…joy.” When we live by the Spirit, in step with God, abiding in Christ, only then does God give us joy as a gift by His Spirit. Why would we pursue joy sooner than God? It’s simple: we are selfish people. If all we care about is how we feel, whether we have joy or feel comfortable, we are focused on ourselves. Our focus is supposed to be on God. For, Jesus is the author and perfect of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
I remember one day this semester when I felt a little discouraged. Life wasn’t playing out the way I knew it should. My discipler came into my room and saw me deep in thought, lying on my bed. “What’s up?” he said.

“Not much,” I mumbled.

“Why do you look so down?” he said.

“Hmm…well…Life just isn’t going the way I wish it would today,” I said.

“How come?” he asked. So, I told him why I was feeling discouraged. I didn’t want to be closed since I had asked him to be my discipler and mentor, however, I didn’t think he would understand the way I felt. I figured that I would listen to his advice regarding my situation and then I would just carry on, and all of this would eventually go away. I was a little surprised with what he said next: “Why is this affecting your joy?” he asked.

“Well, I am usually not happy when things go wrong and there is nothing I can do to fix them,” I said. “It’s like when we sin against God and he is not pleased. Our sin doesn’t bring God joy.” I said.

“If this situation in your life is taking away your joy, then you base your joy on the wrong source,” he replied. “If I base my joy on the things that happen around me then I will be crushed when things go wrong.” And I knew he was right considering that he had endured the painful divorce of his parents among countless other things in his life and childhood. If anyone had had a good reason to be discouraged it was him. “Do you want to know the secret to joy?” he asked me. “It all comes down to what your source of joy is. There are certain things that we should be staking our joy on. Because I am saved from my sin, I am joyful. Another source of my joy is my relationship with Jesus. I take joy from knowing God’s character and His many promises to me. I am joyful because of the future I have in heaven. If these are my sources of joy, then I can rejoice in any situation!” he said.
I knew he was exactly right. I was guilty of basing my joy on the temporary things rather than the eternal things. I was quickly reminded of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in which he said, “…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:16-18). God hammered this idea home for me through several other things here. My care group led chapel one day and the theme of our chapel was eternal perspective. In life of Christ, we were lectured on the Sermon of the Mount, including Jesus’ famous words, “…store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6:20-21). This was an affirmation that the things I treasure and pour my heart into should be eternal. Again in Philippians, “…our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who…will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). I was utterly convinced by God’s word that my discipler was right. I needed to focus on Jesus and let Him be my source of joy.
Of course this is easier said than done. I am still learning to keep Jesus in the forefront of my mind as my one true source of joy. As a result of my Gospel of John class, I found two applications that have helped me to remember this. On one wall I have a piece of paper that says, “Redeemed” in big bold letters. Every time I read that I am reminded of Jesus’ wonderful gift of redemption and salvation to me. I think of how He rescued me from the deadly perils of sin and hell. I also think of His love for me in His redemptive sacrifice on the cross. What a phenomenal reason to rejoice! And I will always be able to find joy in this, because it will never change!
Above my mirror on the back of my door, I have a piece of paper that says heaven. It reminds me of the eternal perspective I should keep at all times. It also reminds me of another source of joy that will never change: my future in heaven. These two signs have helped a lot! Compared to before, I have the joy that I should most of the time. The other times I do something stupid like staying up until 3:30 in the morning playing gamecube with friends, miss my time with God and feel too tired to focus on Jesus. But, there have been several times where my friends were all doing something and I was alone, and I kept my joy because it was based on Jesus who was still with me.
This has been my journey to joy over the past few months. What about your journey? Is joy a blessed gift that you find continually in God’s face? Is joy an elusive shadow that you can’t find rest in? What experiences have placed God as the source of your joy in your life? What can you do to remind you of your need to focus on Jesus as the source of your joy?