Adela Rogers St. Johns, a female American journalist and novelist once remarked: “Joy seems to me a step beyond happiness - happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes when you're lucky. Joy is a light that fills you with hope and faith and love." John 15:11 reminds us: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Joy is defined in the dictionary as a feeling of great pleasure and exultation, whereas happiness is regarded as a state of elation or cheerfulness. Happiness may also be deemed as a veritable position of well-being characterized by positive emotions, contentment, and satisfaction. While the two are generally interpreted as indistinguishable and interchangeable, they do seemingly retain differing complexities. Joy is believed by some as the deeper, more lasting feeling of well-being that comes from within, while happiness is typically a more fleeting temporary emotion often linked to external circumstances or events. For others, the obverse may be considered true. Whatever one’s thoughts, however, both with their joint imposing merit, could be seen as the invitational spirit and light of God.
The light of God is regarded as a deeper source of joy, hope and ethereal illumination. It resembles the vital bodily organs and air that combine to sustain life. It is one of God’s personal treasures that can eradicate all inner darkness, so often prevalent within mortal beings, replacing it with a permanent spiritual glow of peace, hope and well-being that evokes its own individualistic elements of joy. It can be considered as the derivation of life itself. A prospective search for joy may seem a daunting task, because joy can never be found by itself, it is a gift from God that is cultivated through various mindful practices that establish the true value of life. It is considered a fruit from the Holy Spirit that enters the heart of man with its own distinct beauty and worth. It quantifies encouragement and strength which leads to an appreciation and understanding of the world in general. It may be deemed as the essential food of the Holy Spirit that combines all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. If we sin, we effectively die from the blessings and fruits of God, as the wages of sin is death. However, redemption can always be sought and obtained through repentance.
Colossians 2:1-23 reminds us: “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.”
Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used) - according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”
Both joy and happiness are considered the essential well-being of any existence. They are the positive and desirable emotions that lift or fill the heart in pleasure and provide purpose for life. The heart is the membrane of all life. Without a heart, there is little to sustain and fill, and any peace will be difficult to find. James E. Faust, an American clergyman once remarked: “A grateful heart is a beginning of greatness. It is an expression of humility. It is a foundation for the development of such virtues as prayer, faith, courage, contentment, happiness, love, and well-being.”
Colossians 3:15-20 confirms: “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.”
Opposition is usually prevalent during any division of life. It may take extreme courage, tenacity and fortitude to overcome. Resilience may become of significant importance to gain the strength of suppression to defeat its negatory forces. However, we also need to remember that God is by our side during the darker hours of life. He will provide the necessary light and wisdom to escape the jaws of the lion, even though we may feel alone in the heart of its den. Joy can sometimes be hidden in the depths of adversity. For some, in the primary instance, the struggles may appear to diminish the overall beauty or freedom of joy. One may ask his or herself: “How can I remain optimistic and relish life to the full with elements of discord prevailing?” This is especially true in the subtle depths of misfortune.
However, if we can rise above this singultus by seeking God’s help and treating all problems as mere shallow streams that one needs to cross, then opposition itself can become incidental in magnitude. Thus, if this approach is effectively adopted, trials can outwardly create individual opportunities that encourage and invite their own lasting components of joy through the successful accomplishments or eradication achieved, and add yet another constituent of happiness or joy to life itself. James 1:2-5 reminds us: “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. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Amen.
