If “Joy” can be packaged for sale, it would definitely be a hot commodity, and the larger the size is, the higher the demand would be. The abundance of material procession cannot make us happy, and oftentimes make it worse. A recent study shows that the well-known capital of pleasure, Las Vegas, is also the capital of suicide, with suicidal rate two to three times higher than the national average. Not long ago, a famous comedian committed suicide. This entertainer had made millions of people feeling happy through his performance, yet he had no joy in his life. Joy is not the same thing as simply feeling happy. There are places we can purchase comedy shows and funny performances, but where can we buy joy?
The Joy that money cannot buy, God has freely given to us in Christ Jesus. It is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Only with our full participation, this fruit of Joy can slowly grow in our heart. That is why we Christians are commanded to Rejoice always, (1 Thess. 5:16 ESV) for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess. 5:18 ESV) If joy merely means to feeling happy whatsoever, did God ask too much from us? Who can instantly feel happy on demand? But if “Joy” is a tree God plants in our hearts, then whenever you are tending the tree, you are rejoicing! When the tree starts to bear fruit of Joy, people would notice and be attracted by you. As the Chinese idiom goes, “Peaches and plums speak not, yet the world beats a path to them.”
People like stars in the sky (Dan. 12:3). Our planet earth is beaming with life, yet our neighbor Mars is a barren planet, lifeless and joyless. Some scientists say that the difference between these two planets come down to the ocean. We have an ocean on earth, but the ocean on Mars has long dried up. The ocean not only provides the water for life, it also stores up enormous amount of carbon dioxide. The phytoplankton living in the ocean help replenish the atmosphere with oxygen. The ocean also helps heat transfer to offset day-night and summer-winter temperature contrast. For those scientists who devoted themselves to search for life in outer space, if they can find another planet with an ocean, their joy would be complete.
If the “joy” of a planet comes down to an ocean, what is the joy of a man? The Bible tells us, Yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. (Hab. 3:18 ESV) Without God, man is a dry and barren planet. It is only through God’s Word, through the Gospel, that man begins to know God. Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. (Jer. 15:16 ESV) If you do not neglect His Word, but indeed eat and live out the Word. God’s Word will form an ocean of living water inside of you and turn your barren heart into a world of rivers and valleys with abundant produce and peaches and plums. This Joy may not always give you smiles, but it will always give you strength for the day. The tougher your day becomes, the greater your strength would be. Like Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb. 12:2 ESV) No wonder Paul repeatedly reminded us, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. (Phil. 4:4 ESV)
Prayer: O Lord! You are my only Joy! The bad news we hear every day, only make us rejoice even more in the Good News. Help us bearing this fruit of Joy and use it to beat a path for people to find Christ!
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