The Fruit of Joy       
                                          
"The fruit of the Spirit is joy."

                          
"The safest remedy against the thousand snares
                                and wiles of the enemy is spiritual joy."

                                                    ~Saint Francis



Joy. What a strange little three letter word! It's a word that makes us stop and think, especially at times when adversity and hardship make their all too frequent stops on our doorsteps.

Before going further, perhaps a working definition of joy is in order and, for the sake of establishing a working commonality, we'll start by using a standard dictionary definition that presents joy as "a condition or feeling of high pleasure or delight". It's also considered to be "an expression or manifestation of such feeling". These defining characteristics are all well and good during the up times when it seems everything is coming our way and our countenance beams from a sense of inner gratification and satisfaction.

However, life is a real mixed bag of experiences and there are those times when it seems that nothing is coming our way. There are numerous times when the trials and tribulations that come as a natural ebb and flow of life reach deep inside of us to rob us of any sense of gratification and satisfaction. What then? How does a concise dictionary definition of joy pan out in seasons of despair and heartache? We all look forward to a piece of the pie in the sweet by and by but what of life in the hard, cold, and nasty here and now? Our definition of joy needs broadening in order to make it more encompassing of life as it really is.

In discovering a broadened definition of joy it's important to begin the discovery process by understanding that joy is not a commodity whose value and content is determined solely by external conditions and circumstances. We do take pleasure and delight when pleasant and delightful things fill our surroundings. But things are not what spiritual life is about. When writing to the church at Rome the Apostle Paul said,
"the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit". (Romans 14:17)

To define and measure our joy by the abundance and quality of our possessions, or by our personal status or station in life, is one quick and sure way to deprive ourselves of the processes of realization and actualization that occur when joy is found as a deep and inner working of the Spirit of God in the fabric of our being. This is true joy born and nurtured in a realm where the onslaughts and harassments of personal trials and tribulations can't trespass. Joy birthed by the Spirit of God in the spirit of our being has no dependence or relationship with natural and material things.

"You have made known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand." (Psalm 16:11)


Throughout the Bible we find numerous examples where people are rejoicing over various accomplishments and victories. We also see that these are times when we are led to realize the greatness, goodness, and kindness of God toward us. But accomplishments and victories are temporal things. They have their existence for a season and, like any material season, endure for a while, glitter for a while, then fade into the realm that we call the past. We enjoy them while they are here and then bid them farewell as we move on toward fresh experiences and realizations. The joy that we know in these seasons is easily described by the dictionary definition that we used.

Psalm 16:11 directs our thought beyond ourselves and into the wealth of deeper riches. Consider what we are being shown here.

"You have made known to me the path of life."

The path of life is less often like a flat and straight well maintained highway that never settles or develops potholes with tall fences lining its shoulders to keep stray cattle and wandering deer from presenting hazardous driving conditions. Life is more like a wandering path that takes us down into deep valleys, around dangerous cliffs, across raging streams, and over treacherous and difficult terrain. The weather and circumstances of life are in a constant process of change. As we wander the path of life we encounter storms, beasts, and vipers that possess the potential to cause destruction and devastation. We also encounter gentle streams, green meadows, calm breezes, and blue skies.

"You will fill me with joy in your presence."

God's presence is not predicated by any natural condition or situation. He inhabits every environment and climate without regard. When the path of life takes us through green meadows watered by gentle streams and fanned by calm breezes He's there with us. When our path leads us through less friendly terrain, God is still with us. We have a strange human tendency during these extreme opposite seasons to forget or overlook God. When our conceptualization of God is misplaced, during any season of life, our reasoning and perception of reality is filtered through and determined by our natural human emotions. Good is then often taken for granted. Hardship is then often taken as personal attacks against us. Real inner joy is lost. Only by remaining in personal contact with our source of real and enduring inner joy can we walk through all of life's seasons without losing our appreciation of the gentler times and without becoming embittered by those which come upon us as beasts, vipers, and blasting storms.

"With eternal pleasures at your right hand."

We live so much of life with a nearsighted perception of life and downplay the need to maintain one that is farsighted. We are easily consumed by living for the moment spending our energies and ambitions on things that the moths and rusts of time will decay and dissolve. We are instructed to live our lives in the present. Jesus did teach us to "take no thought for the morrow." The accumulation of wealth and material substance is not, in itself, a sin but more so a putting into practice good stewardship of our talents and abilities. But to allow our lives to revolve around the collection of mere wealth and material substance is a great delusion and deception. A pleasure filled eternity awaits those who live with a cultivated consciousness of God in the present. What we know as pleasure during this mortal life cannot begin to compare with the eternal pleasure prepared for us in a realm that is completely unaffected or tainted by the stains and pains generated and created by sin.


"If you want to experience profound joy, don't seek solace in skin-deep

entertainments or protection in illusory safety from tragedy.

Instead, seek a godly perspective that gives us eyes to distinguish

the fleeting from the eternal, the shallow from the deep." John Michael Talbot


There's something strange about religious people. We have a tendency to envision God as some kind of cosmic killjoy who delights in making our lives miserable. This is, far too often, the image of God painted by the Church. Somehow we lean toward modeling our sanctity in terms of solemnity. Church life, for many, resembles an on going funeral service rather than a joyous celebration. Christians, as seen by much of the world outside the Church, are viewed as an unhappy lot that has been whipped into submission. Truthfully, as long as we view Church life as a system of rules that we adhere to, rules that confine rather than guidelines that liberate, our representation of God, our representation of Christ, will always lack the qualitative and quantitative element of joy that makes us attractive in a world where true joy is in short supply.

"For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands." (Psalm 92:4)

I've been in and around ministry work since 1978. Of the several things that I do, one of them is play guitar and sing. Music is an important part of my life. If given the choice to preach to a crowd of several thousand or do a concert for a group of twenty, I'd choose the musical format. Usually though, I can't do a concert without doing a little preaching in the middle of it somewhere and I won't do a concert without incorporating the people into a time of praise and worship.

It's often interesting and challenging to sense the spiritual dynamics when doing what I do. There are those who want to pull out all the stops and get beside themselves in praise and worship. There are those who are very much into and a part of the praise and worship but who have a more reserved nature about themselves. And there are those who refuse to yield their dolefulness for the enjoyment and pleasure found in simply praising and worshiping, in simply celebrating, the greatness and goodness of God.

Extremes have inherent dangers. This is especially true in worship. There are those who feel that unless a circus like atmosphere prevails that worship has not occurred. And there are those who feel that lethargy is the true bench mark of worship. Both need to be avoided like the plague. The first leads to spiritual train wrecks. The second leads to dirgeful processions. Both derail their participants and repel onlookers.

Psalm 92:4 addresses all of us who call ourselves worshipers of God and lends itself to both realms of collective and personal worship. It lends itself to life as a whole. One doesn't have to be bowed down in worship to incorporate its truths. The first part of the verse involves both an outlook and an introspection. "For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD." As we look at what God has done, is doing, and will continue to do, and as we take delight in His handiwork, our thoughts and attitudes are drawn upward. Our sight is elevated above the immediate where life's often trauma filled drama is being played out. We see the bigger picture and purpose of God's plan. The second part of the verse is our response and outward expression of the divine reality that we've come into contact with. "I sing for joy at the works of your hands." Joy becomes not only an occasional expression but more of an ongoing characteristic of our life.

"Let your understanding strengthen your patience. In serenity
look forward to the joy that follows sadness." Saint Peter Damian

Joy is one section of the fruit of the Spirit of God. It's a characteristic of God that we can't produce or manufacture on our own. Joy is inherent in the nature of God as part of His being and He imparts His divine nature to us through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. God plants this spiritual seed within us but, like any other fruit or spiritual gift, it has to be cultivated. Here are a few time-tested suggestions to help in the cultivation of joy.

Don't Get Caught Up In Worrying About Tomorrow

There is, in a sense, an arrogance in trying to control our lives through detailed and far reaching plans. Jesus intimates this in
Matthew 6:34 where He says, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

James puts in his two cents worth when he elaborates,
"Now listen, you who say, 'today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'if it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that'."

In small ways, and in big ways, we should seek to not be distracted from the responsibilities of today. We need to embrace the immediate moment and practice being present whether we are mowing the grass, sweeping the floor, shoveling snow, or doing whatever it is that we are doing. We have to learn to be alive in the here and now instead of thinking condemningly about the now zone and constantly scheming and dreaming for something better down the road somewhere.

Learn To Be Thankful

What's on your mind, what's your attitude, when you first wake up? Do you greet the day by cursing everything that you think is wrong with it? Do you curse your life because you don't like your surroundings or your situation? Instead of moaning and groaning like a spoiled child at all the things you would change with the snap of a finger, try beginning your day with a simple prayer of thanksgiving to God for another day that you can use to bless Him? We've all got things to deal with but we are much more enabled and equipped to deal with the realness of life when we take time to count and think about our blessings.

And what of those last few conscious moments before you drift off to sleep? Are they filled with lingering static and anxiety from dealing with miles of backed up traffic in an evening commute? Or the bills that came in the mail? Or the balance in your checking account? Or the trouble the kids got into? Or are you so beat that your lights go out as soon as you hit the horizontal position? Try stilling your mind by closing the day with a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the blessings, and for the trials, that came your way during the day. Enjoy the blessings and grow through the trials.

Beginning and ending the day with a prayer of thanksgiving goes great lengths in fostering an attitude of thanksgiving that begins pervading our days.

Be Forgiving

A lot of people spend their lives needlessly walking around in a black cloud of their own creation. Part of the darkness is created by regrets over personal failures or unfaithfulness to others. Another part of the darkness is created by the emotional bondage we bring on ourselves when we fail or refuse to forgive others.

God is ready and willing to forgive us for our failings, for our sins, and give us a clean and clear conscience so we can make a new beginning.
Psalm 130:3-4 points this out beautifully saying, "If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness." He likewise calls us to forgive others who have wronged us in one fashion or another. Jesus, in Luke 6:37, pointedly addresses this by saying, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven."

We've all failed ourselves, others, and God at one time or another. Welcome to the human race. But, in spite of ourselves and our failings, we have to discover within ourselves a willingness to forgive. Unforgiveness is a spiritual cancer that can only be cured by the warm and irradiating effect wrought by forgiveness. We have to forgive ourselves for doing the things that we have done to injure ourselves and others. We have to forgive those whose actions have injured us.

This brief discourse is far from an exhaustive exploration of the topic of joy. Nor is it one written during a time of joyous emotional elation. To the contrary, its origin comes during a paradoxical time when several badgering winds have been blowing fiercely against me for several months while coincidentally walking in and growing through a lengthy season of metamorphic spiritual chrysalis.

I know very well and personally the feelings of helplessness and despair, despondency and isolation, anguish and anxiousness. Writing about joy, in considering the source and depth of genuine joy, I write as one who has both discovered and is rediscovering the world of spiritual wealth and health that is found in personal surrender, in understanding that the strength to face all of life's trials is resident within me according to God's grace, in realizing afresh that my own bravado is nothing in comparison to the gentle and quiet strength found in the joy of the Lord.

Trying to control life and manufacture happiness leads to a lot of frustration, sadness, anger, and disappointment in our lives. Control freaks are never happy or satisfied. True joy comes in abandoning ourselves into the hands of God. This abandonment, this submission to God, doesn't result in a defeated, pessimistic, or separated life that's disconnected from the rhythms of life. Rather, it connects us more deeply and passionately to life.

                                          
©David Kralik Ministries, Inc. 2002
                                                      
Email: matthewfivesix@hotmail.com
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