Ultra Concentrated JOY
“How can I find Joy? ”
One of the earliest memories from my childhood is when my mom taught me about joy. She was washing dishes with Joy Dish soap and I asked what Joy was. Her response was:
“‘J’ stands for Jesus,
‘O’ stands for others and
‘Y’ stands for yourself.”
“If you want to have joy in your life the secret is is to put Jesus first, above everything in your life, then put others before yourself. That is how you spell joy: J-O-Y”
This lesson that my mom taught me years ago seems so simple doesn’t it? How much easier could that be? Yet even all these years later it is still something that I have not completely grasped… even with more biblical knowledge and even with experiencing joy in my life. If I am honest I usually end up spelling words like YJO or YOJ or YO, or YJ…because I almost always put the “Y” first. And when I do life is not so joyful.
When I let the cares of this life take precedence in my life, I am putting myself first. When I let besetting sin or addiction take hold in my life, I am putting myself first. I need to put Jesus first, which means submitting my entire life to him, including all my “favorite” pet sins. I must have daily devotions, no more skipping them! I need to pray and read the Bible everyday. No more blaming my bed for being too warm in the morning!
By putting Jesus first and others above ourselves we have joy. Our joy should is not found in our own success, our own spiritual growth, or to our own achievements, but we are to also rejoice with our neighbours. In serving others, you will find joy. My “joy” is often so self-centered, so focused on my own little world, that unless things go the way I want them to go, I can’t be happy. Which means that my self-centered joy is not joy at all. I sometimes get “down” when I think about the menial job I have, or the lack of “nice clothing” in my closet, or my inability to afford a “nice” car or a nice vacation. But my joy is not connected to these things, even if I had all the money in the world, all the success and achievement one could imagine. Take a look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Amid the trouble and turmoil of his life while sitting in prison he wrote:
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.
Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Notice how he does not pity himself while being imprisoned, but rather he focuses on others and on Christ! Paul has true joy!
The Bible calls us to rejoice in Christ and when others are rejoicing – not just when things go our way. Like Paul who rejoices with the Philippian Christians, we should be able to enter into the joy of others, regardless of where we are in our lives. Likewise, we also should enter into others suffering with empathy. This can only be done when we take our eyes off ourselves and focus on Jesus and become involved in the lives of others.
