Delight and Be JOY
“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.” Philemon 1:7
It’s a word that so many people associate with happiness, but really, their definitions are different entirely. Many may think that it’s a feeling, or it’s an emotion that comes as a result of something pleasurable. But, did you know that if you were look up the synonyms for it, happiness isn’t found until the third page? So what word am I even talking about? Before I even begin or give the definition for it, ask yourself how you would define it. How do you see it in your own life? How does Christ demonstrate it?
Synonymous with the words anticipation, delight, and contentment, this word is more than just three letters. It’s a lifestyle we are called to adopt as disciples of Christ. Rooted in Greek from the word, “chara”, which means to be exceedingly glad, this word is something that we all so quickly alter the true meaning of. So let’s just dive right in, shall we? Let’s uncover together what it really means to infuse joy into our own hearts and lives.
Repeatedly shown throughout the bible as the outcome of fellowship with God, joy is an essential mark in the Kingdom. Romans 14:17 says, “For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men, so then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” Really, joy doesn’t always mean to be happy. It’s not the permagrin smile we paste on our faces in the midst of adversity, but it’s the position of our hearts, or rather–an attitude. Joy is permanent and hopeful, where happiness is fleeting and circumstantial.
Rooted in human origin is happiness, where joy is eternal. Peter writes in 1 Peter about eternity and the inheritance that God has set apart for us that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for US! We are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He then follows this hope with truth that our flesh life will be tested with adversity and pain, trials and moments of doubt. The true genuineness of our faith is “more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In verse eight, Peter writes, “Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Peter is writing here describing a joy that only those who trust in Jesus can obtain fully. Joy is an expression of praise towards Jesus, a position of our hearts that should be off of the horizontal circumstances (where we find happiness), and instead positioned vertically in a manner focused upward and homeward–eternally.
As disciples of Christ, we must be willing to suffer for Christ’s sake. If you turn to Acts 5:41, Luke writes about the apostles that when “they left the presence of the council, [they were] rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” The name, being the name of Jesus.
Suffering produces endurance and endurance cultivates strength, which builds our character to be Christlike. George Mueller once said that, “God delights to increase the faith of His children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God’s hands as a means. Trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith.”
I’m a visual learner. I typically learn through seeing things done or by doing them myself. As I started praying through what joy really means, I started seeing that all things just pointed back to each other and created a circle.
Joy is synonymous with Delight (v. to please Someone greatly), and also steadfastness (v. firm in purpose, resolution: firmly established.” Remember in science class when the professor would talk about symbiotic relationships? That’s how both joy and faith work. They need each other to be powerful. In its fullness, faith means to have complete confidence and assurance, aka: steadfastness.
Joy produces strength, and great strength is not found unless it has been tested. Our character is built through experience, through challenges, and through pain. It’s not an easy concept to swallow, and a lot of us quiver and tremble at the thought of any type of pain. Our flesh desires pleasure, whether we suffer consequences or not. That’s why we’re so quick to associate joy with happiness, but really…joy is Colossians 1:11, “May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Choosing joy is not always easy. After all, God sent His very Son to walk in the flesh on earth and His life was the farthest from easy. Desiring a Christlike spirit and character means giving up the life of temporary pleasure to satisfy our immediate cravings in order to share in an eternal inheritance of unfading satisfaction and fulfillment. Fulfillment means, “satisfaction as a result of fully developing one’s abilities or character.” Following Paul’s encouragement in verse 11, he finishes chapter one by writing this that, “their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Joy is something we are called to choose as our foundational attitude as we walk the earth in our fleshly bodies. It is the settled assurance that God is in control, and it is the quiet confidence that He is going before all things even in the mystery, and it is the determined choice to praise God in every circumstance. It is the choice to say, “It is well,” through it all. It is the choice to be willing to suffer for His sake, because that’s what it takes to be a true child of Christ. To be made like Jesus is to endure even just a glimpse what He has endured for OUR sake! Our character is interchangeable with our fragrance, and our fragrance is contagious. 2 Corinthians 2:15 says this, “For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are saved and those who are perishing.”
Waiting for US in His very presence is an eternal glory that in its entirety is still a mystery, something that we won’t fully understand until we REACH it.
In conclusion, because joy and delight are synonymous, which means to please Someone greatly, it should be our biggest desire to enter into His Kingdom and presence with assurance that He will look into our eyes and say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That’s why in Matthew 25:23, God finishes that statement by saying, “Enter into the JOY of Your Master!”
There is an ETERNITY of joy WAITING for US! What hope is that!?? And what ANTICIPATION should fill our hearts because of that!!
Because joy is the result of triumph of our faith over fleshly adverse and trying circumstances.
So, has your definition of joy changed a bit? How can you cultivate it within your life to become more Christlike?
Because through it all, our eyes are on Him, and we can say, it is well.
