Desperate Joy

  We have been looking at four stepping stones we can take if we want to find our way to joy.  The first two we looked at last time were surrender and sanctification, in this post I want to look at service and silence. When I was a child in Sunday school I was taught an acronym for joy: Jesus, Others, Yourself.   If I want to find joy, I was told, I needed to put Jesus first, others second and myself last.   It is a simple, but profound truth.   Life is not meant to be about my self-fulfillment, self-satisfaction, and self-actualization, at least not as ends in and of themselves.   Life is about serving Jesus and serving others.   While I am busy serving others I find the fulfillment, satisfaction, and actualization I desire. Jesus acted this out in dramatic fashion in John 13, "3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God. 4. He riseth from supper and laid aside his garmen...

  As human beings we have a problem.  We want things.  We desire pleasurable experiences.  We enjoy nice things.  These desire in themselves are not bad, in fact they are good. God wants us to flourish and have a pleasurable, joy-filled life.   He gave us the capacity for pleasure so that we would be drawn to Him, since He is the ultimate source of pleasure and joy.   "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning."   (James 1:17) The question is, how do find pleasure and satisfaction in the presence of God?   The lights and rush of this world are in our faces constantly, how can we cut through the noise and find the greater pleasure God is offering?   There are four things that I believe should be active in our lives if we want to be filled with the joy of the Lord:   surrender, sanctification, service, and silence.   ...

  Have you ever been to a wedding? If you asked a random person what the happiest day of his life was, there is a good chance he might say his wedding day.  Others might describe the day their child was born (more on this in a future post). A wedding is a glorious event, when the radiance of heaven cuts through the gloom of our mundane lives and brings us a glimpse of heavenly joy. Marriage carries heavy meaning in Scripture.  It is a symbol that points to foundational spiritual realities, and the joy that it gives us is a hint, a small piece of the eternal joy that Christ wants to give us in his coming Kingdom. The Apostle Paul taught the church in Ephesus about this in his letter to them (Ephesians 5:31-33), "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love hi...

  When I consider the men and women I have known throughout my life who have manifested the profound, desperate joy that I am seeking they have certain qualities in common.   Three key ones are commitment, service and sacrifice.   In the previous post we discussed this idea of commitment, and how important it is to lay aside unhealthy commitments, and to be fully committed to Christ.   We cannot find joy unless our hearts are fully committed to Christ, He is our first and final source of joy.  Commitment is just the first step, commitment must be followed up by action and this action takes the form of service.   A bride and groom may make profound commitments to each other on their wedding day, but if that is not followed up by daily acts of service for each other, that commitment will gradually fall apart.   If we are committed to Christ, that will manifest itself in our lives as service, and in that service we will find joy.     When Ch...