Where is Our Joy? (Part 1)

There are many times in our lives when our happiness and service to God seem at odds with each other. We often struggle with sin because our desires (and so, by default, our happiness) is at stake, and I think our internal struggle often looks something like: "Do I do what I want to do, what will make me happy, or do I do what I know He wants me to do?" Surely the enemy works hard to put our decisions in these sorts of terms, as he can then easily emphasize how good the alternative to serving God looks, and simultaneously make it seem like choosing to serve God is dry, empty, sacrificial, unpleasant, and generally no fun at all.

But the problem is that the above question betrays a truth about ourselves: we do not really believe God is concerned with our joy. We tend to think that we must sacrifice our happiness most of the time if we wish to please Him.

Now surely this is true in some sense, but for the sake of these thoughts and clarity in communication, I must take a moment to define some terms. For the sake of my explanation, I mean by "Happiness": a temporal, temporary state of emotion; by "Joy" I mean: something deeper, something felt by our immortal spirit, something that does not change from moment to moment... something more eternal.

Now it is my contention that God is the source of all joy (1). He is to joy what the Sun is to sunlight, and we cannot have sunlight without the Sun. If this is true, then sin is what shades us from the sun, like an umbrella, a tent, a building, or even a deep cave. The enemy is simply working hard to convince us that we would rather be in the shade, and that there we will be happy (and certainly there is appeal, for in full sunlight our very nature is exposed completely), while God is calling to us all the while, saying "This is not what you truly desire, for you are like a flower that requires constant sunlight."

And it is true. A tropical flower will thrive best in constant sunlight, and the less sunlight it receives, the less healthy it will be, until it eventually dies from deprivation.

This truth has struck me like a bullet in the chest. God is not only concerned with our joy, but focused on it, for we are designed to need Him as a tropical flower needs the sun, and He is thus glorified by us finding our joy in Him and pursuing that joy. He is concerned primarily with His glory, and our joy comes from glorifying Him. God's will and our joy are not at odds... they are the same thing.

So even though He has called us to sacrifice our lives in service to Him, we will find that serving Him relentlessly, loving Him passionately, and enjoying Him fully will be what allows us to truly come alive.



(1). Psalm 43:4, Philip. 4:4, Luke 6:22-23, 1 Thess. 1:6, Gal. 5:22