Joy
As I was driving through my home town of Smiths Falls, Ontario the other day, I noticed a sign outside a local church. It was a sign that encouraged people to attend services at that particular church on Sundays, but what really caught my attention were the four words in large capital letters and in quotation marks. This is what they said:
“THE JOY OF YOU”
This really disappointed me, and more so the more I thought about it. Christianity is not so much the “joy of you” but as we read in the Bible, “The joy of the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:10). When Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi, he didn’t tell them to rejoice in “themselves.” No, he said, “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord .… Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 3:1; 4:4)
If you get your joy from self, you are going to be sadly disappointed. If you find your joy in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will have a heart so full of happiness that you won’t be able to contain it. Which will it be? Whose joy are you experiencing in your life?
