He who bends to himself a Joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the Joy
as it flies
Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.
William Blake, English poet (1757-1827)
For centuries philosophers, poets, and other deep thinkers have written about joy—its fleeting and unpredictable nature, and how it’s often found in the little things.
The Scriptures reveal joy as a deep-seated spiritual reality, grounded in an awareness of God in and around us. Joy extends beyond the reaches of happiness—the sense of pleasure that often comes and goes depending on circumstance.
It’s a warm, sunny day: I’m happy. We’re going out for ice cream: I’m happy. I got a bonus at work: I’m happy. Then I found out it’s a mistake: I’m not happy.
The joy God provides transcends circumstances, because it’s rooted in His presence.
Joy is called a “fruit” of the Spirit. It’s the deepest sense of happiness emanating from within. This joy is cultivated through an ongoing and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite chapters is John 15, about the vine (Christ) and the branches (us). A branch cannot bear fruit unless it’s connected to the vine to receive nourishment. John 15 is all about Christ—not only knowing and doing what He says, but drawing our daily sustenance through relationship with Him. (And surely all relationship requires communication, doesn’t it?)
In Christ there is fullness of joy.
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 NKJV)
Chinese Christian teacher Watchman Nee wrote about the joy Christians experience when first saved, but over time often dissipates and is experienced less and less. He writes:
Christians nowadays incline too strongly towards a life of feeling. Yet God does not say to live by feeling but He says to live by faith. After years of experience you will come to realize that joy and dryness are really the same.
Oh that we may not act like those with a small capacity—in joy they dance in the house; in dryness they drench the wall with tears. If we live by faith we shall not be swayed by either of them.
Even so, let it be plainly understood that we are not people without emotion. We do have feelings of joy as well as dryness. But we ought not allow these external sensations to touch our inward man . . . the joy which the outward man feels is not that which the inward man enjoys in the Lord, because this latter joy is most deep and unshakable.[1]
Strength comes from this deep and unshakable joy—the lasting joy found only in His presence.
[1] Watchman Nee, The Salvation of the Soul, (Christian Fellowship Publishers 1978), p. 114-115.
Copyright © 2015 Cheryl Elton
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