The Joy of the Lord

2007-10-24

I think one of the biggest problems we have when we look at phrases such as the joy of the Lord is we want to read American values into it. Does the joy of the Lord mean incessant euphoria, all smiles and not a care in the world? It could never mean that. Happiness and joy, at least in the Bible, are different things. The joy of the Lord must mean something else.

I think for me, the person of Jesus and His unconditional acceptance of us based on what He has done has hit me the hardest over the past six months or so. Eleven years in the Faith, Bible school, young adult ministry, missions institute, the books and the conversations through the years and I have only given this truth nominal thought. This truth I have applied as theoretical, but I never owned this truth as my own.

So we (or at least I) begin to ask fallacious questions to ourselves, how do I do the joy of the Lord? Or, what formula will get me from my miserable life of fear and sin and springboard me to that abundant life all of those ministers talk about in books and seminars? There is no formula, such as “three steps to painless life” with Christ somehow thrown in the mix. If we measure the joy of the Lord as happiness, than we will not see this in life, nor will we ever experience the Lord Himself, because His life was characterized by pain. His victory did not precede pain, and neither will it for us.

So if we don’t do the joy of the Lord, we somehow have to let God do it. Or maybe He just does it? Or how does it work? I do not know for sure, but I think I may be beginning to understand something. Maybe not. Romans 12:1-2 talks about being transformed by the renewing of the mind, and Colossians 3:1 talks about seeking the things that are above. We need to have the right mindset, or to use even a more appropriate term, the right worldview. God has promised to change us according to Romans 5:10. We are being saved from the power of sin whether we like or not. But embracing this change that is already taking place will make a difference on how quickly we will be changed. A mind conducive to the power of God is the mind that already has God in it.

What does that mean? And what is this mindset? This mindset is the person Jesus Christ and the gospel message. Jesus is the Gospel: who He is and what He did. In God’s timing Jesus came into the world and died for our sins. Your sins are forgiven whether you like it or not. Everything you have ever done, are doing, and will do does not matter on how God sees you. We live in a world that is entirely shameful before God, but He has raised us from shameful people to being His very own children. We were helpless before God, sitting ducks awaiting eternal flame, but He single-handedly took the burden to bear our punishment to save us. Owning this truth makes a big difference in the affairs of today.

Now if you own this truth, then you realize that you are a child of God and you are not whatever you thought you were. There is no higher position than being the child of God. If you realize that God is changing you and conforming you into image of Christ whether you like it or not, then you are more likely to embrace that and seize the opportunities to be led by the Spirit. Do we realize who we really are? If we did, our daily lives would be a whole lot different. Even those who understand this truth so clearly and grew up with the knowledge of God’s grace from their parents do not perfectly grasp this, and we fall down on our own accord.

But we need to be real with people and get to the point where we get beyond the cold handshakes and clown-makeup smiles that are plastered on. We need to recognize that we are very weak and fragile people who forget the truth of how God sees us, that we all have issues. And when we seek this with each other, then we will experience more joy in the Lord. The joy of the Lord I think really means being content in our position in Christ as children of the Most High God, never to be snatched out of His hands by any earthly or heavenly being, and sticking together and reminding each other of what Christ already has done, looking forward to victory. I did not do any word study or research, that is just me talking from the heart. If we stick together and live with the mindset that Jesus died for the world’s sins and rose from the dead, then the joy will be apparent. Therefore, the saying is true: the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”