How Joyful are You?

In a previous post, I asked you the question, “What do you think God thinks of when he thinks of you?” Today, I want to ask a different question. “What do you think of when you think of God?” However you might answer that question, you need to know that…

God is full of joy

Joy flows from God. It’s part of His nature. As Dallas Willard wrote, “A joyous God fills the universe.” And joy is the ultimate descriptor of God’s activity in the world. His work among us is characterized by joy. Go back as far as you can in history, back to the dawn of the universe, and there you’ll find joy. Creation itself was an act of joy, of delight in the goodness of what was done, a moment when, according to the book of Job…

…the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy… (Job 38:7)

Fast forward to the New Testament and you’ll quickly discover that joy marked every aspect of Jesus’ ministry. He even connected joy to love, joy as the fruit of the Father’s love. He said,

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain [abide, rest] in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:9-11)."

He meant for us to have His joy, if you can imagine it, the fullness of joy, regardless of our circumstances.

In the parable of the prodigal son, heaven in the present is characterized by joy — feasting, music, and dancing. We’re not used to the idea of God throwing a party. It seems to contradict the solemnity and seriousness we’ve often attached to God. But when you think about the many ways Jesus described God’s Kingdom, a joyful banquet is often at the center. He said,

“Many will come from east and west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11).”

He said,

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepares a wedding banquet for his son (Matthew 22:1).”

God, the ultimate party planner, has a party prepared for you! We get a glimpse of what it will be like in Revelation 19. The Apostle John writes, "Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9)!”

Do you see? The story of faith begins and ends in joy! And in between, there is joy. Joy permeated Paul’s life, even in a place where you might least expect it. Arrested alongside Silas for delivering a slave girl from an evil spirit in Philippi, he was dragged before the magistrates, accused of causing a disturbance, then attacked by the crowd — the magistrates themselves, tearing off his clothes — he was beaten and thrown into prison, his feet fastened to the stocks. That night, the Bible says

…Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25).

How is that possible? The joy of the Lord, it says in Nehemiah, is your strength regardless of your circumstances. For centuries, Christians have been marked by joy. Not all of them, mind you. There are plenty of stories of sad, even morose, Christians who never crack a smile or delight in anything. Ellen Glasgow, in her autobiography, talks about her father, who was a Presbyterian elder, a principled man full of rectitude and rigid with duty. “He was entirely unselfish [she wrote], and in his long life he never committed a pleasure.”

And it’s not just Presbyterians! Every denomination has their share of dour Christians who’ve yet to tap into the joy that fills the universe! But the ones who inspire us, the ones who make a lasting impression, have been marked by joy. In fact, before the Reformation, when the Roman Catholic Church looked for reasons to canonize a Christian as a “saint,” one of the standard qualifications was the evidence of hilaritas. Hilaritas is a Latin word that means “cheerfulness, good humor, joyousness, merriment and hilarity.” In other words, they had to be a person of joy to be considered for sainthood — capable of laughing, praising, and celebrating. How joyful are you?