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Joy in The JOurneY

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The letters which spell joy are in the jo urne y.  When you take the letters away, you are simply left with the circumstances u r n.  As a Christian I know my joy does not leave, but it can hide.  Some days my journey is full of joy; I wake up with a sunny disposition and no pain, except maybe a hangnail.  Other days I am awakened to something along the lines of grief.   

 

Grief halts my joy.  HALT as in the famous acronym- Hungry.  Angry.  Lonely.  Tired.  

 

Hungry.  Perhaps physically, but more so mentally and emotionally.  Hungry for what I want but do not have; hungry for what is not, and this side of Heaven may never be.

Angry.  Some of it is righteous, some of it is not.  Anger that life is not fair, that it hurts so much.

Lonely.  At times we grieve side by side, we still each bear our own burden.  Mine is mine. Yours is yours. Not everyone is willing to walk alongside the grieving, not everyone knows how to.

Tired.  Carrying a burden is exhausting, even if you are only carrying it as far as to Jesus.  An average day in a broken world carries weight, in grief you carry extra weight at baseline.

 

In the midst of  pain, loss, and suffering, and when we are hungry, angry, lonely, and tired, how do we move from not experiencing joy to experiencing joy?  I do not have answers. Questions without answers are still worth asking. Wanting an answer is different than believing you are owed one, or that you have the authority to make one up.  And while I do not know have answers, I do know what I believe about the joy we long to experience not only on the mountaintops but in the valleys as well.

 

Joy must be definable and attainable, otherwise our hope to experience it is a chasing of the wind.  Per Google, the definition of joy is - Joy- /joi/ noun - a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.  

This definition, while accurate, is abstract.  Is the feeling transient? Is it dependant on variables?  Is it quantifiable? Most of the time when we speak of joy, we speak of transient joy.  My children give me joy. That song fills me with joy. Or as advertisers claim, not only do our products fulfill the purposes for which they were produced, they additionally manufacture joy for those who buy them.  Transient joy is dependant on variables. If people or circumstances “bring us joy”, when they are no longer present, neither is our joy.  

 

Eternal joy on the other hand is not transient.  By definition it has existed and will exist eternally.  The feeling of great pleasure and happiness that begins and ends with our Creator, exists outside of our experience.  Our experience of it may be transient, but somewhere for someone (the Godhead if no one else) eternal joy exists. When we say we long to experience eternal joy, we are saying that we long to be a part of what God is, and invites us to enter into through Christ.  While our experience of this type of joy may feel less accessible at times, “It is possible to experience joy even in lament, many a believer has. Sin, sorrow, and sadness may overshadow our experience of eternal joy, but the sun still shines beyond the clouds. In Nehemiah, the long neglected law was read to the children of Israel.  As it was read they wept over their sin. But Nehemiah commanded them to cease their mourning, not because there was nothing to be sorry about, but because the God they served was greater than their sorrow. For the ones who who seek the Lord, eternal joy outweighs the laments of the heart.

 

 “..And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:10 (ESV)

 

Eternal joy is not the product of a formula, it is the product of the Spirit.  Formulas are nonliving and predictable.  If we chase transient joy, we may find it, but it will not be the joy our soul longs for.  The Holy Spirit is living and unsearchable in His ways. Eternal joy is experienced in us and through us as we walk in the Spirit.  When we want to experience more joy, more of anything that is of the Spirit, we must lean into the Spirit. This is not a formula, it an act of faith.

 

Eternal joy is experienced in community.  We are created for relationship, primarily relationship with our Creator.  As mortal men we are not capable of experiencing eternal joy because we are not eternal.  However, through new life in Christ, eternal joy becomes a possibility for us here on this earth and into eternity.  Our bent in grief is often isolation, but the bent of joy is community. In our seeming joylessness, we must move toward community.  We must move toward our Creator, and towards others who share His eternal joy. If we wait to move until we feel like moving, we may never move.  We must move upward for sure, and if possible, risk moving horizontally. Horizontal is a real risk, for although the Spirit works in community, this side of Heaven those filled with the Spirit are still clothed with flesh.  Flesh can get in the way. Grace upon grace, sometimes it does not, and eternal joy can be shared amongst us. As we seek to experience more joy, we should be willing to try community, and given the frailty of the flesh, perhaps more than once.  .  

 

Temporal joy can be a springboard towards eternal joy.  In the midst of a dry season temporal joys can move us towards eternal joys, so when they come our way, let us fully experience them.  Family is a temporal joy. Chocolate is a temporal joy. I know the joy of being with Jesus far outweighs both. When I taste and see the goodness of temporal gifts, I am caused to wonder at how much greater the goodness of the Giver Himself must be.  My experience of the temporal is transient, it is still an experience. When it is afforded, it whets my appetite for the eternal joy which is, and yet cannot fully be experienced this side of Heaven. As a wise pastor once told me, “Do not love people less, love God more.”  More than the people you love the most. More than your favorite food or past time. More than any transient joy He affords you this side of Heaven. Love God more. Immeasurably more. How do we love God more? Jesus tells us.

 

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. John 15: 10-11 (ESV)

 

There is joy in the journey.  It is not the result of a formula, but of an eternal relationship.  Let us pray for it, seek it, wait for it, experience it. The God of Creation sent His only Son, that through Him we might have joy.  Now, and for all eternity.