Joy is More than a Smiling Face

"Let the godly rejoice. Let them be glad in God's presence.
Let them be filled with joy." (Psalm 68:3NLT)

“Joy is the sheer evidence of God” (Pierre Chardin)

We are an emotional being because God created you to have feelings. The Book of Ecclesiastes told us (Chapter 3) that there is time for everything; a time to cry and a time to laugh, a time to grieve and a time to dance, a time to love and a time to hate etc. By experience, I bet that there is a high percentage that you will agree with me if I say that – it is not unusual or abnormal to experience emotional or (even) spiritual ups and downs within short period of time. Feeling may come and go. Feelings are good, very good but not great – feelings can be deceiving. External source of happiness expired quickly. Our feeling is but a fragile ocean of emotional sea; ups and downs, highs and lows – unpredictable.

However, God have something more to offer. He offers joy. “Joy”, write G.K. Chesterton, “is the gigantic secret of Christian.” Lasting joy and contentment run much deeper than the emotions of the moment. Joy doesn't denied trouble or sorrow, it acknowledge the presence of God in it. Joy is not the absence of suffering but the acknowledgement of the sustaining power of Christ in our life. Joy is not measured by your smiling face (though most of the time it is expressed in that way) but by your personal walk with God. Joy is different because it flows deep beneath the stormy surface of your feelings.

Am my writing is too poetic for you to understand? Let me puts it this way: - Joy comes from above, that is from God, and runs from within, that is through your renewed Christ-filled heart. It is peace of joy because you know that God had accepted you because of Jesus Christ, and wants you to be with Him forever in eternity. It is the sign that we are really living in God’s wonderful love, and that love satisfies us. That love of God is enough – that’s joy!

L.P. Jacks writes, “Christianity is the most encouraging, the most joyous, the least repressive of all the religions of mankind. While it has its sorrows and stern disciplines, the end of it is a resurrection, not a burial – a festival, not a funeral.”

Joy – I tell you, no emotional ups and downs can shake that kind of strong foundation: joy – Be rejoice!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again – rejoice!
Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.” (Philippians 4:4-5NLT)