True Joy

  I recently read a collection of essays called Joy and Human Flourishing: Essays on Theology, Culture, and the Good Life.  The book is put together by Miroslov Volf and Eric Crisp.  Different theologians took a crack at writing on the subject of joy and look at from several different angles.  I am still wrestling with some of the concepts that the book presents. 

     The first premise that the book makes is that there is a difference between happiness and joy.  The biggest difference is that happiness can be very subjective and even very hedonistic.  In other words, what may make me happy can make other people sad or distraught.  The birth of my niece made me happy, but maybe for the couple who have struggled to have children or for the person who never had that opportunity, could lead to sadness and sorrow.  Happiness is an emotional response to what is being done to or for us.  Joy is different because it is often a response in spite of our circumstances.  It is a choice to be joyful, and often it is a supernatural response.  Reading through the book of Psalms, the different authors often find joy in God in spite of their world crashing down on them.  Psalm 46 is realizing when the world comes crashing down, our joy comes in the form that God is our protector, and He is our helper in our time of need.  Are we taking time to be still and to trust God, or do we want to fight our own battles and end up getting beaten up.

  Joy is also a choice that we make on a daily basis, and sometimes even a moment by moment decision.  In essence, are we taking time to be joyful, or are we content with being the Negative Nancy and not only ruing our day, but often we are ruing other peoples days also.  I have noticed when I am around people who are joyful, I tend to be joyful, and the opposite is also true.

  One of the things I realized is that since joy is a choice, we need to make good decisions to help sustain it.  Being around joyful people is only apart of it.  Looking at Psalm 42 there are some things that we can put into practice.  The first one is that our joy, whether it is genuine or fake, comes out of what we worship and what we desire the most.  True joy comes from longing and seeking after God through prayer, worship, and confession.  The second idea is that true joy does not gloss over sorrow, pain and heartache.  True joy does not minimize or make the issues into mountains, but it takes a look at those things straight in the eye and deals with them in healthy ways.  Whether it is talking it out, making life style changes, or even letting go of some non healthy relationships, true joy is finding ways to live healthy.  True joy gives us hope for tomorrow while giving us a reason to live to the fullest today.

  True joy is only something that can be given by God and it can not be manufactured.  Fake joy is a lot like fake/click bait news.  It may get us excited and stirred up for awhile, but its because it sticks us on a sugar high and we end up crashing hard with no real substance and we end up with cavities.