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The Nature of Joy
What is joy? And where does it come from? How can we know more of it? We’ll take a look at such questions in today’s reading from Joy to Your World!, which is found on pages 31 and 32:
“Joy is not determined by what we can see in our immediate environment. Instead, joy is a condition that attaches to knowing the Lord and being able to see past or through what is seen to engage what is not seen (Heb. 12.1). This is part of what gives joy its great appeal: it is not attached to changeable circumstances but to fixed realities and eternal verities in which we participate by grace through faith. And joy is always there, always available to tap into in any situation.
“[T]he ability to know joy – in spite of any untoward circumstances or conditions – is dependent on the extent to which one actually knows the Lord and is intimately engaged in a relationship with Him. Habakkuk declared that he would rejoice in the Lord and in His salvation, which he experienced as strength, security, and safety (v. 19). The chords, melodies, keys, and pace of our lives are ever changing, like a Baroque keyboard composition; but the continuo of joy abides like a solid bass line under and through all the vicissitudes of our lives, and makes them all, regardless of their nature, cohere and make sense…
“True joy – a pervasive sense of wellbeing, strength, security, elation, peace, and safety – comes from the Lord, from being in, with, and near Him. We may know joy in the presence of the Lord and His strength – joy now and joy complete in the days to come.”
For reflection or discussion
1. How would you explain the difference between happiness and joy to a non-Christian friend?
2. What you say to that friend concerning how to know that joy?
While true and lasting joy is a permanent condition of Christian life, it’s not a permanent experience. At least, not in this life. Now we know fleeting but precious encounters with joy, enough to know they’re real and that greater and lasting joy is yet to come. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together and discuss it. You can order your copy of Joy to Your World! at The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
The post The Nature of Joy appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe.
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By T. M. MooreWhat is joy? And where does it come from? How can we know more of it? We’ll take a look at such questions in today’s reading from Joy to Your World!, which is found on pages 31 and 32:
“Joy is not determined by what we can see in our immediate environment. Instead, joy is a condition that attaches to knowing the Lord and being able to see past or through what is seen to engage what is not seen (Heb. 12.1). This is part of what gives joy its great appeal: it is not attached to changeable circumstances but to fixed realities and eternal verities in which we participate by grace through faith. And joy is always there, always available to tap into in any situation.
“[T]he ability to know joy – in spite of any untoward circumstances or conditions – is dependent on the extent to which one actually knows the Lord and is intimately engaged in a relationship with Him. Habakkuk declared that he would rejoice in the Lord and in His salvation, which he experienced as strength, security, and safety (v. 19). The chords, melodies, keys, and pace of our lives are ever changing, like a Baroque keyboard composition; but the continuo of joy abides like a solid bass line under and through all the vicissitudes of our lives, and makes them all, regardless of their nature, cohere and make sense…
“True joy – a pervasive sense of wellbeing, strength, security, elation, peace, and safety – comes from the Lord, from being in, with, and near Him. We may know joy in the presence of the Lord and His strength – joy now and joy complete in the days to come.”
For reflection or discussion
1. How would you explain the difference between happiness and joy to a non-Christian friend?
2. What you say to that friend concerning how to know that joy?
While true and lasting joy is a permanent condition of Christian life, it’s not a permanent experience. At least, not in this life. Now we know fleeting but precious encounters with joy, enough to know they’re real and that greater and lasting joy is yet to come. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together and discuss it. You can order your copy of Joy to Your World! at The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
The post The Nature of Joy appeared first on The Fellowship of Ailbe.