The Backdoor to Joy
What is joy? How do you define it?
People wonder all the time what joy is. How do you get it? How do you keep it?
We try to figure out what will give us joy and happiness. Usually that means I’ll do what I want, when I want, That’s My Prerogative, and you’re not the boss of me. Or as Frank Sinatra sang, I Did It My Way.
Is doing it our way the formula for joy, for happiness? No, because if it was, we’d all be doing that. The proof’s in the pudding, right? If living life the way we want brought us real and sustainable joy, we’d all be doing that.
But it doesn’t.
So, where does joy come from? How do you see it, know it, feel it?
It comes from letting go of what we want, and accepting what God wants.
The problem is, literally the last thing we want to accept is that we’re specifically made to do what God wants.
Isaiah 29:16:
You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
Being told we’re clay is bad enough. But it gets far more humbling than that – we’re told that we’re clay made by God, and that he forms, molds and shapes us for his use.
He can do what he wants with this clay. Our natural inclination is to hate that.
One of the reasons we hate it is that we assume God doesn’t have our best in mind. Or, we fail to understand that it glorifies God to be a good father to his children. Or that it glorifies God to be good to you.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We are God’s workmanship, his craftsmanship. He’s very carefully made each one of us: unique, with skills, and talents.
And this is where joy comes in. Joy comes from being clay that God uses for his purposes.
You will hear otherwise on that. The world, your flesh and the devil will say to you, “Will letting God use you really make you happy?” Like the serpent said in the Garden, “Did God actually say…” as a way of causing distrust in God’s provision, plan, purpose, and love for them.
So, we have to wrestle with this: Did God actually say he loves you, that he’ll take care of you and provide for you? Did God actually say he would?
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1 John 4:9-10 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Your deepest, long-lasting joy is when you allow your creator to use you for his purposes.
I’m a musician. I’ve played in bars, I’ve played on albums. And it was fun to do those things. But when I play in worship, I’m using the gifts God has given me for his purposes in a special way. And believe me, I do it imperfectly.
Sometimes I hit the wrong notes, sometimes I get distracted, but then I think of all the incredible musicians I’ve listened to or played with over the years and I realize that some of them never experienced the joy of giving back in worship what their creator gave them.
You are not always going to hit the right note. You’ll get distracted and move off of your focus of serving God. But God is merciful and just. He will forgive you. Get back into doing the things he has created you for.
Here are some hacks to help:
- Don’t compare yourself with others.
When you compare yourself, you either fall into pride because you feel better compared to that person, or you beat yourself up because you don’t measure up to them.
Scripture commands us to be like Christ (1 Peter 2:21, among others.). When we are asked to be like others – it’s to imitate their godliness. (1 Corinthians 11:1, among others.)
- Be thankful.
Even if you don’t feel it, say the words. Typically, this is easiest to do when you’re praying. And this matches the Psalms which often start with lament and end ith/ praising. (Psalm 10, among others.)
James 5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.
- Don’t let your circumstances control your joy.
Hebrews 12:1-2 …let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
It’s okay to acknowledge difficulty, trials, tribulations. Sense it, feel it, say it. But reserve a bit of you that says to God, “Your will be done.”
- Let your circumstances make you stronger.
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
- Go to God in confession when you fall short.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
