Abundant Joy - Part 2

Abundant Joy - Part 2

It took me a while to figure it out. I had lived a long time before I really understood joy.

I was happy most of the time. I really like having fun so I have fun a lot. I joke, I tease, I play, I do fun things. I didn’t understand why I was not happy all of the time.

Happiness, it turns out, comes and goes. When times were good I found that I was happy. But, when things took a turn for the worse, my happiness was nowhere to be found. Then I learned about joy.

Joy is something different than happiness. Joy doesn’t leave. It isn’t just fun and games, joking around or having a good time. Joy is there when it doesn’t seem like you can be happy again.

Joy is there when everything is going great, but it is still there when your heart hurts and when you are lonely. Joy is there when your friends love you, but it sticks around when they let you down and you have to pick up the pieces of your relationships.

Happiness is created by external things like a great car, a pretty girl, a nice compliment, a good song or a winning team. When your car gets scratched, what happens to your happiness? What happens when your team loses or someone says something mean to you? You become unhappy, right?

That’s because your happiness was dependent on something that can’t bring you joy. Those things can only scratch an itch that makes us happy for a while but never lasts.

My joy comes from God. A wrecked car can’t change the fact that God loves me and cares for me. A lost game or a harsh word can’t turn God away from me.

I have joy because I have Jesus in my heart and I see the world in a different way.

1 Peter 1:8

“...and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.”