What is your definition of joy? I want you to think about it for a moment, get it firmly settled in your mind before reading the rest of this post. Got it? Good. Let’s move on.
I think most of us define joy as happiness. I know I did. I thought if I’m happy, I’ve got joy. Isn’t that what the world pushes? On every corner, every television ad, movie, or billboard, the world pushes happiness as the goal of my life. If I take this pill it’ll make me happy. If I use this product it will bring me joy. If I do this thing or say that phrase, or pursue this certain path I will have nothing but a joy-filled life.
But, that isn’t always true, is it? What happens when that pill no longer works, or the product fails, or that path that I based my happiness on no longer exists? Sometimes it can be hard to pursue happiness because happiness is based on my feelings, and my feelings change like water.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Be joyful always.”
Wait. What? How is that even possible? How can I be ‘joyful always’ if I can’t even hang onto happiness for an entire day?
Because joy, true joy, is not happiness. Joy is not an emotion, it’s a choice.
I can be ‘joyful always’ in the hardest circumstances of my life because I know that I am saved, I have a hope for the future that isn’t based on what is currently happening to me. Even on my worst day, when life is falling apart around me and it looks pretty scary, I can delight in the knowledge that God has my back. One day, none of this is going to matter. When I put life in God’s perspective I have joy, true joy, and not just based on what makes me happy, because my happiness is as fickle as the wind.
I can be ‘joyful always’ because my joy comes from God, not what the world says my happiness should be.