JOY > happiness

 ll

I have never truly understood this passage fully. Like, of course, our desire is to be happy people, smile, love others, but something always fell short. I could never “be joyful always” without me having to be inauthentic or in - genuine about it. Leaving me with a continual feeling of you’re not good enough thoughts or how can I follow Christ if I cant even be joyful all the time like this passage states? I fell short of the expectation of what the perception of what this passage portrays Christians to be. I think that as a Church we have failed in realizing what the word joyful means often causing inauthentic & façade communities – in which everyone hates, but rarely does anything about it because of the worried feeling of being the only one who feels this way. Well guess what, YOU AREN’T. We must WAKE UP from our spiritual slumber & do something about this. This just won’t do, brothers & sisters.

It has been the past few days that I have been completely content beyond words. I’m not sure content is even the right word. It’s not contentment, its joy; complete joyfulness beyond words. It is a joy that cannot be stolen away from me. It is not something easily understood until experienced. It is. And that is quite possibly the best part about it. The problem with my understanding of this passage was that I was confusing joyfulness and happiness. You see happiness is temporal. It is fleeting; something that responds to emotions; which, as I’m sure y’all know are extremely unreliable things at times.

However, when joy comes it settles into the inner most of our beings. And it continually stirs one’s heart to “be joyful always, to pray continually, to give thanks in all circumstances.”

What is this joy though & how can we get it? It’s simple. Tom Richter said this, “JESUS CHRIST. That is it. It sounds cheesy and cliché but that is all it is. You must anchor yourself to CHRIST.” Its so simple & I think we tend to overcomplicate, over theologize it, over analyze it, etc. Happiness will leave us feeling empty. It is okay if we are not always happy in life. Jesus tells us that we will go through trials and that following him is not for the faint of heart; the journey is a struggle & hard at times. But JOY is something much greater than happiness – it’s long-lasting when anchored in Christ. It is possible to be joyful and unhappy. This is okay. The difference is that joy brings hope and perspective. When happiness is gone, we can easily drown in our sorrows, pains, and grievings. Joy expresses happiness but happiness does not fully embody or define joy. It is only but an outlet in which joy is expressed.

ll

Does this make any sense? I hope so. Dwell on the differences of joyfulness & happiness. My hope is that we can all experience this TRUE JOY. Pray for it. What once was a misunderstood verse I now view it in high regard & understanding // Thank you Jesus.