Joy. It's an aspect of Christian life whose importance can easily be overlooked by a believer when they're assessing their walk with God. Now I don't mean joy in the sense of looking happy or acting outrageously in some way; I refer to your response to God's work in Christ for you.
This response will express itself differently in different people and different situations, but is characterised by an underlying happiness and thankfulness in the knowledge of the Kingdom to which you belong. Let me be absolutely clear, I'm not advocating a joy that sings out inappropriately in response to bad news; but a joy that remembers with thankfulness that we are only in this world temporarily, that we are assured of a place with God for eternity and that He works in all things 'for the good of those who love Him' (Rom. 8:28-30). There's no doubt that we have a lot to be joyful about!
Consider Christ, who in His very nature, being and essence is God, yet He didn't grasp at equality with His Father but in fact made Himself nothing, taking instead the nature of a man and a servant. He humbled Himself further still in taking our sins, our failings and guilt upon Himself and dying for us on the cross. And He did this while we were His enemies, while we were in the very act of rebelling against Him. He did this so that we could be seen as perfect by God, so that we could look forward to an eternity in heaven with Him. He now sits at God's right hand and will come again in glory and in judgement (cf. Phil. 2:5-11). This truth too easily becomes commonplace to the seasoned believer; whereas it should provoke a constant response of trust and joy in Christ.
Allow me to justify my stance on this. First, The Bible is quite clear on the issue of joy: "Rejoice always" (1 Thess. 5:16); "Rejoice in hope" (Rom. 12:12); "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." (Php. 4:4) This rejoicing is the response to the knowledge and belief that God eternally provides and sustains. Galatians tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23), and elsewhere we learn that joy is the expected response both when considering the hope of eternity that we have (Lk. 6:23), and even as we face afflictions and persecutions (Jas. 1:2 cf. 1 Pet. 4:13).
A perfect example of this would be the Apostle Paul. He seems to be one of the most joyous and focussed of individuals in the New Testament. Though stoned, beaten, hated and persecuted, he remained steadfastly serving the Lord with his entire being, always with the positive knowledge that he was living according to God's will. What was his secret to this joyful existence? He knew that God is in control. Though Paul was imprisoned on many occasions, though he knew he would likely be killed serving God, he continued serving happily knowing that God intended him for that purpose, that God was using those situations for good.1 Paul's secret was to live above the circumstances, not under them.
From the mouth of Christ we find that as Christians we are called to 'love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and with all our strength, and love our neighbor as ourself' (Mk. 12:30-31). Reflecting on Jesus' words here I wonder how we could love God in such a way if our understanding and focus upon Christ's work and God's love in sending Him - this being the very foundation, support and strength of our relationship with God - is not sufficiently understood or appreciated in us so as to result in joy?
Further, "Loving our neighbour" surely includes loving, supporting and encouraging our brothers and sisters in Christ, and telling non-believers of God's love for them. But we must realise that it's hard to support our brothers and sisters if we can't convincingly, through the joyful impact of the love of Christ in our own lives, offer the hope of Christ and the love of God as a source of encouragement to them. And for that matter, how can we show non-believers their need to change as a response to the gospel if we ourselves are not responding to it day by day?
Finally, consider Jesus' response to the question "What must we do to do the works God requires?" Our Saviour stated, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent" (John 6:28-29). It impacted me greatly to realise that failing to receive Christ with joy, is in a way, rejecting Him. Receiving Christ without joy must be an indication that we do not fully believe what He has done for us, because what He has done is so immense that joy should be an inevitable result. This understanding moved me deeply, as I know that I've been lacking joy in Christ for a great deal of my Christian life.
It was (and is) a great temptation to me to let the worries and cares of this world impact me in my relationship with God and my response to Christ. At times in the past I've even survived on a basically "intellectual" understanding of the gospel, neglecting the relationship which should have been at the centre of my attention - my faith was all head and no heart. In such times, applying what I read in the Bible would become a matter of my will-power making me change because my knowledge was telling me it was the right thing to do. Such changes should have been a joyful response to the truth of Christ, through God's power. But praise be to God, who does indeed work in and through all situations and circumstances, who simply reminded me of His love.
I began this 'thought' by defining joy as being characterised by an underlying happiness and thankfulness in the knowledge of the Kingdom to which we all (as believers) belong, taking care to disassociate this from merely appearing to be happy. But appearing happy is part of it too; however, it is the end, not the means. Your response to Christ should make you happier, and being happier should result in appearing happier. Living 'with our eyes on the Kingdom' means that we can no longer claim the right to appear joyless because of a despairing circumstance. How often do we fall into the trap of saying "How can I be joyful under the circumstances?", but as Charles Swindoll points out, Christians are supposed to live above the 'circumstances'.2 If you regularly fail to be happy, you have to ask yourself to what extent you're focusing on this world and forgetting the guaranteed blessings of Christ.
And so I return to the underlying theme of this thought, that joy is an important part of our Christian life, often overlooked, and sometimes completely rejected. Being joyful includes appearing to be happy, but this not as a result of forcing ourselves to smile - it should come as a result of appreciating Christ and knowing God. It's as simple as that. The Christian joy is not to be subject to the earthly situation in which we live, but only to the higher situation of being saved by grace.
If you, like me, struggle in this area, a few handy hints I can suggest are as follows: First, try beginning your prayers every day by thanking God for Christ, and even if it is only for your benefit, stating in prayer what Christ has done for you - made you alive, taken your sins, reconciled you freely to God and guaranteed you eternity with Him in heaven (among other things!).
Second, when you are letting the weight of this world get you down, ask God to remind you of the world you have to look forward to and the Kingdom to which you already belong; and ask for increased joy in your life as a response to the truth of Christ.
Third, get to know God as best as you can. Read His word and meditate on it. Think about what is being said, think about it from different perspectives. In this way and through prayer, get to know God better.
Fourth, you could also try reading the Bible and noting the response of the apostles and others to God's love shown in Christ, and their hope for the world to come. Remember Paul, for example, whose joy could not be suppressed even in the face of death - indeed especially in the face of death - for to him, "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Php. 1:21).
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)
Unless otherwise indicated, on this page, Scripture taken form the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible. Used by Permission.
1 Let us not forget that Paul's imprisonment - surely a "victory" for Satan who would have Paul stop travelling the world encouraging believers and beginning new Churches - actually resulted in him writing the letters that would eventually constitute a significant part of Scripture. What must have seemed like a victory for Satan was actually used according to God's plan. And Paul knew it. He rejoiced in it. (cf. Acts 21:10-14) (jump back to text)
2 Charles Swindoll, "Laugh Again", p.20. (jump back to text)