At the risk of being overly-vulnerable online (Is that possible? I usually prefer to have deep conversations with people face-to-face over coffee, but I guess that’s part of the whole reason for this blog, so we’ll give it a go.) I want to share with you guys the journey that I’m about to undertake.
I don’t know how many of these there will be. If God moves in big ways and I’ve come to the end of this journey in less than a week, I may only have one chapter to post. However, if it takes longer you could get a few more blogs about this topic.
Anyways, let’s jump right in. My quest for joy. As Christians, we’re called (perhaps even commanded?) to find joy in our creator.
“Delight yourself in the Lord;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.”
(Psalm 37:4)
It sounds like we are instructed to enjoy God… to me, that sounds a little backward. We generally think of commandments as “don’t do this/don’t do that”, or “do this/do that” but not usually to “enjoy this/enjoy that”.
So what does this have to do with me? Maybe I should back up a little bit before diving into this. Many of you reading this may know (and many of you may not know, which makes this hard to type) but I struggled with a pretty serious depression in high school. Living as a pastor’s kid, I felt like I had to be this perfect little Christian, so I hid it pretty well. I don’t want to get into all the little details, but an unfortunate little talent I gained from this is the ability to lie about how I feel – even to myself.
Now, my depression ceased around the end of my senior year when I started taking my relationship with my savior seriously, and I often consider that the moment I truly gave my life to Christ. He’s been faithful in the past years and I’ve been lucky enough to watch Him work in my life in indescribable ways. Before any of you go ahead and start worrying about me, let me make it clear that I am not depressed. At least not in the way I was in high school, because I have this wonderful thing called hope that I lacked back then. However, I look at my life, and with school, friends, money issues, future plans, loss of family members, and on top of everything, I’ve neglected to have good, quality time alone with Jesus in the past few weeks. It’s easy to see why I’ve lost sight of Joy.
And I’m going to write as if those of you reading this can relate to me.
The big importance to remember is that even though we may lose sight of our joy, we can never actually lose our joy. Because our joy does not depend on us. Our joy is rooted in who we are in Jesus because of who He is (follow that?).
“My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.
When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches,
For You have been my help,
And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.”
(Psalm 63:5-7)
Because we have Jesus, we have all the joy we will ever need.
I have this nifty little booklet by a certain Mr. John Piper (If we’re facebook friends, I’m sure you’ve noticed my profile picture, and the fact that I love this man) that I received while in San Diego for a [cru] summer project in 2011 called “For Your Joy” (link to the pdf can be found here) I’ve probably read through this little booklet at least a half-dozen times, and it’s full of notes, scribbles, and prayers I’ve added to the margins.
Also, for those of you who know me, you know that my iPod has more sermons than music on it, so I decided that a good first step in my quest for Joy would be to listen to a John Piper sermon titled “Quest: Joy, Found: Christ!” which the rest of this blog will come from.
He begins by talking about a French mathematician named Blaise Pascal. On November 23 1654, he wrote “Year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November, feast of St. Clement … from about half past ten at night to about half an hour after midnight, FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of philosophers and scholars. Certitude, heartfelt joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ. God of Jesus Christ. “My God and your God.” … Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy… Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. May I never be separated from him” and sewed it into his coat. Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy! This was his reaction to finding Christ. Why should ours be anything less than tears of joy? So often as Christians, I think we are afraid to seek after happiness in our own lives.
Piper talks about self-denial as a spiritual discipline for Christians. But he explains it as not the renunciation of the quest for joy – but the renunciation of lesser, inadequate joys for bigger and longer ones.
So as I’m beginning this journey, there are a few bible verses I just want to marinate on.
John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
Romans 15:13 “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 1:24 “Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.”
Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field”
Psalm 126:5 “Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting”
Psalm 43:4 “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and upon the lyre I shall praise You, O God, my God”
Christianity IS joy! God IS joy!
Jesus tells us to “delight yourself in me; and I will give you the desires of your heart” because then He is the desire of our heart.
I hope this didn’t come off too downtrodden, because in all reality, I am excited about this journey that God is about to take me on, in rediscovering my Joy in Him. To try to keep this from getting too long (though it’s probably close to being too long already) I’ll end it here, but the sermon continues, and I’m sure I’ll add more later. About how finding our Joy ultimately brings glory to God… good stuff. Get excited. =)
