Joy

Joy. There’s nothing like it. It’s the sweetest of all emotions. Highest of the high. Love can be tough, sadness has its depth, anger is hot, even fear has its excitement; but nothing is like joy.

Joy. Often inexpressible, sometimes inconceivable but always incomparable. Joy is that heavenly feeling. Praise comes with it. Hope waits on it. Sadness flees from it. And love labors till it.

Joy. It’s the holla of Hallelujah, the life of the party and the shout of worship. It looks like a smile, sounds like a laugh and smells like fried chicken (or maybe fresh baked cookies).

The Greek word for joy is Xara (Chara). It is derived from another beautiful word Xaris (Charis), which means grace. Joy is therefore, according to Scripture, the state of gladness resulting from the gift of salvation through Christ.

Joy is more than common happiness. Hap means chance occurrence or events. Happiness is based on happenings, or happenstance which is therefore haphazard at best. The grace of God is given through the once and for all time event of Calvary. As our joy is tied to an eternal, immutable event, then we ought to as Paul says, Rejoice always.

Once again it is a matter of focus. If you look to chance occurrences for emotional highs, you will inevitably be disappointed, deflated or depressed. But if the work of God through Jesus Christ is the source of your joy, then you will never be ashamed. As always, we get to choose our emotional state by choosing what we focus on.

This is the only way one can -
Rejoice when persecuted (Mat. 5:12).
Rejoice in hope (Rom 5:2).
Count it all joy in temptation (Jam 1:2).
Rejoice evermore (I Thess. 5:16).
Rejoice in Suffering (I Pet. 4:13).

Get your mind right by getting your sight right.

Hope this hopes you.