Joy

The more and more I think about life, my life, the way things are in my day to day tasks, the more I believe that what should make me happy actually makes me miserable. I work at a job that is so boring. I work with people who freak out and are stressed by the smallest most insignificant things, and they are loud about it. At the end of the day I am exhausted, emotionally and mentally. So all I want to do when I get home is nothing. That is what will make me happy. But then when it is 11:00 and time for me to go to bed this wave of guilt and shame crashes down on me as I realize that I did exactly what should have made me happy, nothing. Now after the same kind of draining day at work I go home, but instead of doing nothing I clean the kitchen or read a book that causes me to think, or I go see a friend, guess what 11:00 feels like? I feel full, and satisfied and great, most of the time I am not tired but ready to do more of the same types of things I did when I got home. Who in their right mind would think that going home to clean after a draining day of work would energize them? This works with just about anything in our lives. Food for example. If you eat the food you want, that looks really appetizing, most of the time afterward you feel fat and lethargic.

So it is with our spiritual lives. For an example of how this looks spiritually I will ask a question about marriage. In your marriage when are you the most satisfied with your spouse? When do you have true joy in your relationship with your spouse? Is it when they are making much of you, or when you are making much of them? Ladies, think about when you get to brag on you man. What does that do in you? You look at him differently and are full of love and respect for him. When you are proud of your husband it spills over into all aspects of your marriage, and thus you find joy. Yes when he does sweet things for you that causes joy. But greater joy than that comes when you talk about that sweet thing with your friends or family. Does that make sense? Guys, it is the same for us. When we get to talk about our wives as God’s grace in our lives, that’s when we are truly happy in marriage. Of course it feels great when they speak well of us but that just makes us think, “boy do I have her fooled.” Yet when we get to see her shine and sparkle, whether at home or in the world, what joy we have in our marriage. That is when we are overwhelmingly attracted to our wives. I know that’s how it works in my life. But if we, husband or wife, only seek being made much of, bitterness sets in and disappointment marks our life because our spouse cannot possible make as much of us as we desire. Isn’t that odd? It is as if God were trying to show us something. Now in your relationship with God, what brings you the most joy? For me it was when I was walking with my friend Chris as he was being lead out of Mormonism. On a weekly basis I had the privilege of trying, feebly I might add, to make God look so good that Chris would find Mormonism unsatisfying. That had nothing to do with me. God through me was revealing himself to Chris. Through ME?!? And God became more glorious to me during that time too. But, when I at home group or in a men’s bible study try to make much of my intellect or the only reason I say something is trying to lead one of you to tell me how amazing I am, I go away empty and ashamed. Yet when I simply hold forth Jesus, and my desire is to have him made much of, O the joy that stirs up in me, and O the glory Jesus gets from that. His glory is our good, just like making much of our spouse brings us happiness in marriage. What would a church look like, a marriage look like, if the people involved lived this out?



Jesus help us to forget ourselves. Prove yourself to be exceedingly great and desirable above all things. It is glory for you and joy and peace for us.