I wonder how many of you are old enough to remember the chorus: ‘If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Your sins He’ll wash away. Your night He’ll turn to day. Your heart, He’ll make it over anew and then come in to stay.’
But is it true?
After all, we’ve all met miserable, grumpy Christians, haven’t we? And let’s face it, very few of us feel joyful all the time. Could it be that we’ve been seeking joy in the wrong places, relationships, or things?
The only true and permanent source of joy in this life is in knowing that God is good and is in control of everything. When we seek joy in our wealth, possessions, relationships, or health, we may find it for a moment, but moments are fleeting. Wealth can slip away in an instant. Health can deteriorate overnight. A devastating accident can happen in the blink of an eye. Relationships break down, or the people we love move away or die. Then what happens to our joy? We need something more solid in which to find real, wonderful, lasting joy. Our joy must be rooted in our relationship with our unshakable, unchanging God.
Joseph, in the Old Testament, is a good example of one whose joy was fixed in his relationship with God, even while his world fell apart. You may remember that his jealous brothers dragged him out of the well they had tossed him in and sold him to the Ishmaelites as they passed by on their way to Egypt.
When we fix our affections on, and our hope in, Jesus, nothing can rob us of the joy we find in Him.
So, who were these Ishmaelites? Think back to Abraham, who, in desperation to have a son, agreed to sleep with Hagar, Sarah’s maidservant. The son born from this unholy union was Ishmael, from whom descended the Ishmaelites. Apparently God can use anything, even our sinful errors of judgment, to bring about His vast, sweeping plan in the world. When we fix our affections on, and our hope in, Jesus, nothing can rob us of the joy we find in Him. David wrote: God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea (Psalm 46:1-2).
Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth: “We work with you for your joy” (1 Corinthians 1:24). Yes, my friends, the purpose of the Gospel is to bring you joy, not the fleeting kind that vanishes with a poor diagnosis or a tragedy in your family. Christians are not immune from suffering or sadness. After all, we live in a fallen world in which pain, suffering, and loss are normal. But if our deepest joy and satisfaction rest in Jesus, nobody can take it away from us.
Joy is not about avoiding hardship or pain in this earthly life; it’s about aligning ourselves with Jesus, who ‘for the joy set before Him endured the Cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God’ (Hebrews 12:2). Look to the future! Look to Jesus, in whose presence you will find fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11).