The Center Of My Joy

The Center Of My Joy

Scripture: Nehemiah 8:10; James 1:2-3; Habakkuk 3:17-19; Psalm 16:11; Galatians 5:22-23

Last week I spoke to you about being thankful and actually giving thanks to God regardless of the circumstances we are facing. You see, there are many people that can only express true thanks when things are going well for them. When things are not going well there is stress and worry followed by doubts of the situation working out in their favor. And, more importantly, when the situation does not work out in their favor they are even more depressed and filled with anxiety about their future. This revolving door is what many people face day in and day out and yet the Bible says that we are to give God thanks regardless of what we are facing. In fact, when we come to Him in our times of trouble, we should give Him thanks and praise before we make our request. We can do this because God does not exist on our timeline so He is working things out on our behalf even before we ask because He knows we are going to ask. So we can be thankful at all times regardless of what we are facing because of what Jesus has done in our life. And, because of Jesus, regardless of what we face we can have joy. Joy is the reason we can be thankful in the midst of all of our trials and tribulations.

The title of my message is “The Center of My Joy.” Richard Smallwood published a song with this title and I want to share a couple of verses with you. It opens with “Jesus, You're the center of my joy; all that's good and perfect comes from You. You're the heart of my contentment, hope for all I do, Jesus, you're the center of my joy. When I've lost my direction, you're the compass for my way, You're the fire and light when nights are long and cold. In sadness, you are the laughter, that shatters all my fears, when I'm all alone, your hand is there to hold.” This song captures “the place” every Christian must eventually come to if they want to consistently triumph over hard times – understanding that the only real joy in this life is found in Jesus!

I remember growing up wondering how the “old folks” could give testimony after testimony about their lives and still exhibit joy when I knew some of them were having a hard time. What I didn’t understand was that they did not measure their joy by their circumstance, but by the relationship they had developed with Jesus. As the song said, “…in sadness, you are the laughter, that shatters all my fears….” Those old folks lived this song and I now understand why they could shout for joy when times were hard. I understand why they would say “Jesus will work it out….” without understanding how He would do it. They had lived long enough to see Him do it over and over so they were able to establish a state of constant joy even when things were bad. Having this joy did not stop them from the normal emotional responses that everyone experiences, but it never left them. They were always able to come back to it just as the song said, “When I've lost my direction, you're the compass for my way….”

So this morning we will examine what it means to have joy and what it means for Jesus to be the center of it. Let me share with you a definition for the word “center.” It means “the middle point, area; the point that is the focus of attention or interest.” Now here is the definition that I really want you to capture: “the point or line around which something rotates.” The center of something is that middle point of balance. In other words, it is the point where there is equilibrium, the point where everything else rotates around it. New Light, every person has a center – a core set of beliefs that help them make sense of the world around them. How many of you remember going to a doctor’s office and having your weight checked with the old scales? The nurse had to move the measurement point until the end of the rod floated to the space where it wasn’t too high or too low. When the rod floated “in the center” of the space, then the correct weight measurement was achieved. When we think about Jesus being the “center of our joy,” we are saying our joy is achieved or found in Him and that it is not determined by the negative circumstances staring at us. When Jesus is our center, when He determines our core set of beliefs, then we will understand why the things happen and, more important, how we can trust Him to get us through them.