JOY to the World

Tis the season of "Joy to the world the Lord has come."

The Bible repeatedly mentions joy. When the angel appeared to the shepherds, he announced the Messiah's birth to be "good news of great joy."

Joy, in Scripture, is frequently tied to one contradictory sounding circumstance—suffering—and one unique source—the Holy Spirit.

I've seen two extremes in Christians' lives. Both deflect the joy that should be their inheritance from the King.

One, is a seemingly fake joy (or at least one I could never relate to) where the person fails to express any suffering. Since God is good, their life is fine...nothing of which to complain...no heart aches, no doubts, no worry, no fear. 

While I have memorized the verses telling us to "cast your cares on the Lord," "trust the Lord with all your heart," not "worry about your life," etc, these are all lessons of growth. They only come naturally to a perfect person. For everyone else, it is something we must battle against—put up the Sword of Truth to parry the Sword of Doubt. 

If someone does not struggle, I question if they are really alive. The battle strengthens the warrior and makes him or her realize our dependence on God for righteousness and growth. 

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit that is produced in the midst of trouble and is most illuminated by the dark background of life. To struggle with the realities every human faces—the sorrows, the losses—yet to still have an abiding joy is the sign of the residence of the Holy Spirit.

The second extreme example I have seen in Christians is someone who lives continually on the "poor me" side of the street. Rarely is there a reason to rejoice, because there is too much suffering to bear. You know the person. It's the one you hate to be cornered by and of whom you thank the Lord you're not married.

Both—those without human struggles and those with more than their fair share—steal the glory from God and refuse the work of the Holy Spirit. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

Since ancient times, acidia—sorrowfulness of the heart, "resignation"—has been one of the deadly sins. "Serve the Lord with gladness" (Ps. 100:2) summons us to the Scriptures. This is what our life has been given to us for, what it has been preserved for up till now. Joy belongs, not only to those who have been called home, but also to the living, and no one shall take it from us.

Joy is not reflective of surroundings or even of a positive mental state. Instead, it flows from the Spirit that lives within a Christian.

Persecution can't kill it, sorrow can't crush it, and happiness cannot replace it.

As the Spirit is the seal in the heart of a true follower of Yeshua, marking us as His for eternity, so the fruit which He yields also cannot be stolen from us.

Bonhoeffer continues:

It [Joy] does not deny the distress where it is, but finds God in the midst of it, indeed precisely there; it does not contest the most grievous sin, but finds forgiveness in just this way; it looks death in the face, yet finds life in death itself.

Years after he wrote this, Bonhoeffer exemplified this truth in his own imprisonment and death.

Honesty in suffering is important not only for the one going through it, but also for those around who may be in a similar dark valley. God's glory is seen not in a perfect life, but in a life that He is perfecting.

Although happiness may shy away in the shadows, joy will accompany us through the night.