Joy
There are many simple pleasures in life, many things that we can delight in. I remember one, years ago, when my daughter was very young. I remember the first time she laughed. What a delight, what a joy it was, to see this laughter in a child! Happiness is a wonderful thing. And to see a child who is happy, is also very delightful.
You've probably heard many people say, "All I want is to be happy". Happiness is wonderful. But there's so much in life which takes it away, and it seems to be a struggle to be happy. But the problem is that if we pursue happiness, just happiness itself, we won't find it. Happiness has to be something that's almost incidental, that comes by itself, rather than being something that we pursue for itself.
But is there something better than happiness? We know that happiness passes, it is easily disturbed. We know that a child can be laughing one minute and crying the next. We know that our own happiness can quickly change - when something happens, when somebody says something, when we receive some news, when our circumstances change, when we simply look at our watch, or look at the weather.
There is something more than happiness, and that is joy. By joy, I mean something that's deeper than happiness, something that has a reason, and can endure much more than happiness can endure.
In the Bible, we see much written about joy, and very little about happiness. In particular, if we look at the Lord Jesus, we see a life that was lived under much stress, much strain. He was thronged by the crowds, His life was threatened, people were trying to trap Him in His words. It would be very difficult. We know of several occasions in the Scripture when the Lord Jesus is spoken of as one who wept. And yet we also see Jesus and hear him speaking about His joy, and saying to His disciples, that he would share His joy with them. He said to them, in John chapter 15 and verse 11, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full". What a wonderful promise!
But then we think, "What is the joy of the Lord Jesus?" When He speaks about my joy, what was that joy? It was certainly a joy that remained with Him, a joy that was deep and strong and abiding. There could be tears, there could be difficulty, there could be disappointment, there could even be heartbreak and suffering. And yet, there was joy. That Joy has its origin in God. God is full of joy. That might sound a strange thing to say. But it's true. The Scripture says in Psalm 16, "In Your presence is fullness of joy, and that Your right hand are pleasures forevermore". In His presence, in the presence of God, is fullness of joy. And when we think about this, it makes sense, because what could rob God of His joy? Is there anything that threatens Him? Is there anything that's going to surprise Him? Is there anything that He's going to learn that He didn't know? Of course not. His joy, like His love, like His goodness, is permanent, unchanging, always present. It's a triumphant joy. It's a joy that springs out of His own life, His own goodness, His own purpose, His own will. It is a joy that no one can take from Him.
This is the joy that the Lord Jesus had, even as a man, through His constant obedience to His Father. He lived in His Father's will and shared His Father's joy. It even says concerning the cross, that "for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame...". Even in the midst of that horrific suffering, there was a joy set before Him!
In our life, can we have joy? The answer, of course, is, "Yes, we can". And that joy, if it's going to be an eternal joy, if it's going to be a joy that no one can take from us, will have to be this same joy, the joy of the Lord, and this joy is available to us.
We can't know it though, on our own terms. We can only know it through coming to the Lord Jesus, and through the great Gulf that exists between us and God being crossed. What is that gulf? It's not that God is distant from us. It's not that God is invisible. It's not that we can't see Him with our eyes, and we can't hear Him with our ears. That's not the problem. Any of those things God could deal with in a moment. The gulf between us and God is our sin. It's sin that must be dealt with before we can be reconciled to God, before we can know Him, before we can be at peace in His presence. It's the sin that is the issue and it must be dealt with.
I think everybody knows that instinctively somehow, because everyone knows that they ought to be good. And even if they don't think of that much concerning themselves - perhaps they think they are good, but they certainly demand it of other people. And the cry that goes up, if anyone is not good to them, if anyone lies to them, or steals from them, or is unfair to them in some way. We demand, "That's wrong" we say, "They must, they should be good. They should do what is right". And we must also, but we know that we can't.
Well, people will shrug and say, "Nobody's perfect". Yes, that's true. We are all sinners. And if we compare ourselves to one another, we may not think that our sins are great. But when we compare ourselves to God, when we look and see what we are, what our life is when compared to the life of the Lord Jesus, which was revealing God to us, when we compare ourselves to Him, we see that our sin is great, and that something great will be required, if that sin is to be forgiven.
The Lord Jesus Christ took upon Himself the burden of our sin. He bore our sin before the just judgment of God. That's why he died. He didn't die because he was defeated by men, He died for men, to save men. On the cross, He said, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing". But He knew what He was doing. He was laying down His life in order to save the ungodly, for sinners, those who were enemies of God, and that's you and me.
If we will find in the Lord Jesus the forgiveness of sins which He died to give us, we can be reconciled to God. We can share his joy. We can look forward to the day when we will see Him face to face and in His presence know the fullness of joy which He has promised. This is the gospel, this is the good news.
When the angel announced the birth of the Lord Jesus, he said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people". That joy is the coming of the Lord Jesus, the death of the Lord Jesus, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and the gospel, the good news preached in the name of the Lord Jesus to all who will hear it.
Are you one of those people? Do you long for His joy? Do you long for that peace which comes through the forgiveness of sin? The Lord Jesus said, "In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world". We will have tribulation in the world, we will have difficulties, but He has overcome the world, and He has overcome sin. And we can put our trust in Him. We can turn from our sins, we can turn to Him and receive Him as our Lord and our Savior, reaching out to him with empty hands, bringing nothing but repentance and a willingness to put all of our trust in Him.
The Scripture says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved". This is the promise of God. And this is the joy that is offered to us in His name. Won't you receive it?