This picture captures it — joy. It was a hot July day, we took the boys down river to the rope swing. It’s deep there, you can’t see the bottom, so we cinched up the boys’ life-jackets and went for it.
At first Ben clung to us, but Heidi let him in on the secret: “Ben, you have a life-jacket on, even if you stop paddling, you can’t sink.”
He considered. He tried it. His face LIT up as he shouted with joy, “I can’t sink!”
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Joy. Right now Jeff is preaching a series called Branches: Full of Christ’s Life. He’s going through the fruit of the Spirit, and today was on joy.
What is joy? I’ve often heard it touted, “It’s not the same as happiness! You can be joyful without being happy.” Ok, but I also take issue with the idea that somehow joy is so far “down in my heart” that virtually no one can detect it! Can you be joyful without any trace of happiness?
I appreciate Dallas Willard’s definition, that joy is a “pervading sense of well-being in your soul,” but I also would argue, couldn’t that be the definition of peace? Is joy really no different than peace?
I’d argue joy is in fact its own thing. Peace can be completely inward, but joy has a sense of outwardness to it.
And further, we are commanded to REJOICE. We aren’t told to “peace” we are told to rejoice.
It’s outward. It should be observable in some sense, at least detectable. Yes?
Tim Keller described joy as “a spiritual buoyancy that comes when we are rejoicing in God.” He goes on, “This Joy, this buoyancy, does not mean we are impervious to suffering, it means we are unsinkable. We are constantly getting wet, we are constantly being pushed down. However, we do not stay down. We don’t sink.”
We don’t sink.
Yes. THAT is how I experience joy. It isn’t that I’m constantly above the waters, it isn’t one long spiritual high, but it is buoyancy. We do walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We suffer. We get disappointed. We have days we’re just tired, we’re irritable, we’re frustrated by the ways our world isn’t working as it should.
But we’re buoyant.
As I sat there in church this morning I reflected on what it is the buoys me during dark seasons. I thought of the days walking with my parents into death, I thought of the days of miscarriages, lost friendships, church difficulties, marriage difficulties, parenting difficulties. I thought through, specifically, what is it that has buoyed me most?
Of course first of all is gratitude, a habit of gratitude is what most contributes to joy. But in terms of TRUTHS. These are the truths. These are the life-jackets that consistently bring me back a buoyed joy, time and time again. These aren’t hypothetical, not something I read in a book somewhere. They are truly what buoys me:
- Everything is being used for my good. No exceptions. This is life-changing. Romans 8:28 tells God is working all things for my good. 1 Cor. 4:17 says my affliction is working for me, preparing a glory for me. James 1:2-3 says I can rejoice in trials because they are producing in me good things. I can see suffering as hand-weights making me stronger and better.
- God sees all. When the biblical writers talk about suffering injustice, they always bring it back to knowing God is our master and HE doles out eternal reward. No matter what I can rest in the fact that God sees all, He is who I serve.
- Everything doesn’t depend on me. While yes, I am responsible for my actions and I want to honor God in my actions, this whole thing doesn’t depend on me. God is so gracious, He will accomplish His work through imperfect people who fumble on the regular. Example: Whole Bible.
Friends, I truly believe that joy is the secret to the victorious Christian life. For the JOY set before Him Jesus endured, conquering sin and death to give us new life! We have LIFE. He has conquered sin and the grave. We have the power of the Spirit. We have HOPE. We of all people have reason to be the most joyful.
We can’t sink. {Thanks for reading.}