A 40 Day Journey to Becoming Like the One We Follow

Day 4: Joy (John 15:11)

I like to imagine Jesus laughing. Some of his teachings are genuinely funny, witty, even sarcastic. Jesus partied. He went to weddings and celebrations and festivals and feasts. He hung out with all the wrong people – and those people usually have the best time.

I love the story of Jesus inviting the little children to come to him. He took time out of his day to bless the kids. He even told us that we should become like little children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven.

You know what children have an abundance of? Joy.

They laugh and play and goof off for no reason and with no spurring them on. Fun and joy and excitement and laughter – these are all things that define childhood.

So what happened?

Somewhere along the way we lost our child-like wonder and joy. When we come across an adult who is genuinely joyful, we remember them, we want to be around them, we’re confused by them. But joy is the fruit of the Spirit living in us! Jesus wants all of us to be joyful as we follow him.

What steals our joy? Worry. Obligation. Fatigue. Stress. Fear.

Are any of those things prescribed by Jesus? Are any of those the result of a Spirit-filled life? Of course not! Let’s be intentional about living joyfully.

Smile more. Laugh more. Get on the floor and play with your kids. Rejoice in the Lord, for you are his child. We have every spiritual blessing and eternal life awaiting us.

So let’s party.

1 Comment

  1. Good thoughts brother. Joy is something I thought on and studied a lot during the pandemic/quarantine. One comment I would reiterate that you made is that true Joy from Jesus is a fruit of having the Holy Spirit in us once we commit our lives to him and receive it. I would add that it’s not an emotion. Joy is often used interchangeably with emotions such as happiness, gladness, excitement, and fun. But those emotions are fleeting and can change quickly. If we truly have the Joy from Jesus then we will have it even when we are sad and going through times of trouble and suffering. On the flip side you talked about things that could rob us of joy and I recently read 2 Timothy 1:7, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
    ‬This had me thinking more about what other states of spirits that we can live in that are not from the Holy Spirit. Those are also not emotions but something stronger and come from Satan and places of darkness he wants us to stay so we don’t have that Joy. Fear is definitely one of those places, along with excessive worry, doubt, anxiety, depression, etc. . .

    Anyways hopes it’s okay to share these. I am enjoying your daily posts.

Comments are closed.