Steadfast, Immovable, Abounding

This is the second installment in my series of posts about the fruit of the Spirit.

Out of all the fruit of the Spirit, I think that joy is strangely one of the most ignored. We often think of it as a bonus prize tacked onto our everyday lives as Christians, instead of a natural overflowing of our thankfulness to God. We forget that we must strive for joy just as we do the other fruit. I believe this is because the world is conditioned to treat joy as an emotion (just like it treats love). But the Bible does not describe joy as being created by our circumstances. Joy is part of who we are; it is the expected and acceptable response to the work Christ has done and is going to do in our lives. As David writes in Psalm 16:11, “You will make known to me the path of life; In your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” For the Christian, joy is not an occasional emotional high. It is the consequence of being in the presence of God. It is truly a way of life.

The first major source of joy in our lives is Christ’s sacrificial death and victorious resurrection. When we stop and consider how Jesus bore the accumulated weight of all the sins of the world, it should overwhelm us with thankfulness to Him. Paul writes in Hebrews 12:1,2, “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” The reconciliation of sinners is a matter of great joy to Jesus, and He imparts this joy to us. Our Almighty God, the holy and righteous Judge, bought us with the blood of His Son, the only payment that could erase our debts. That is the greatest transaction in all of history, and it is something to celebrate. How could it not fill us with indefinable and irreplaceable joy?

One of the hardest things we are called to do as Christians is to have joy in the face of horrific trials. How in the world could we be expected to rejoice, even when our soul is beaten down by the pain this broken, fallen world inevitably causes? But Jesus said to His disciples in John 16:22, “Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you,” and later in verse 33, “these things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” This last sentence is the motivation for our unstoppable joy in every circumstance. Our God has overcome death, pain, sickness, strife, and all the hosts of Satan; as His children, there is no circumstance that can overpower us. The first verse of Horatio Spafford’s “It is Well with My Soul” words this beautifully:

When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul

Having unquenchable joy does not mean concealing or sugar-coating the grief of our pain. Before Jesus goes to pray in the garden of Gethsemane, just prior to His arrest, he says to Peter, James, and John, “‘My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death’” (Mark 14:34). None of us will ever know how Jesus suffered that night. But His reaction does teach us how to handle our pain—Jesus did not turn to the world, He turned to His Father. The joy of the Spirit does not provide detachment from grief, but rather the strength to never despair of hope.

Not only do we know Christ has conquered everything which would try to defeat us, we also have the assurance of everlasting life with Him to constantly renew our joy. 1 John 2:25 says, “this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.” Unlike the world, which has no future and no hope once this life is complete, followers of Christ have the promise of eternity in heaven with Him. This life – no matter how horribly painful – is nothing more than a moment when compared with the new one which we will step into. Paul writes in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That is why Christians have the power and the responsibility to be people of joy. Christ has died and risen. We are His children, bought with His blood. No matter how this world has exhausted our soul, there is a place prepared for us. He will wipe every tear from our eyes, and that experience will be joy made complete.