“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances…”
1Thessalonians 5:16-18
ALWAYS. CONTINUALLY. ALL.
Those are big words! It isn’t easy to be happy when your world seems to be crumbling apart; when someone you love is in a tragic, life-threatening accident or a doctor gives you a death sentence diagnosis. It just isn’t realistic to be happy all the time. But that’s not what this scripture says. The Bible challenges us to be “JOYFUL” always.
Is there a difference between happiness and joy?
Nearly fifteen years ago, I found myself in a desperate situation. My husband was being treated at a Burn Intensive Care Unit after sustaining burns to nearly all of his body. The doctors couldn’t tell me if he would survive his injuries. In actuality, the odds were not in our favor. We had two young children at the time. Our daughter was days away from her ninth birthday and our son was only 2 years old. They were being cared for by their grandfather who graciously came to stay with them so they could maintain some form of normalcy by staying in our home while I was nearly 3 hours away at the hospital with their Daddy. I felt as though I was losing everything. I faced the possibility of becoming a widow at the age of 27. I was living in a condo with my mother-in-law, away from my children and away from the comforts of home. I relinquished my job as a part-time youth director at our church, simply because I knew my priorities needed to be focused on our family and I felt I couldn’t physically, emotionally or spiritually give the time and energy needed to run the youth program anymore. More than anything, though, I had lost my sense of safety and security because life as I knew it was spinning out of control. I felt like I was in a battle. A battle to survive.
Does 1 Thessalonians 5:14-16 want me to be happy with all of this?
Absolutely not! Being happy and being joyful are two completely different things. Happiness only comes when circumstances are going well. For example, we feel happy when we get a promotion at work. We tell ourselves we’ll be happy when we pay off our car loan. I feel happy when I’m sitting on the sun soaked sand listening to the waves lapping up to the shoreline. When my kids are obedient and behaving, I’m happy. But when life throws us a curve ball, happiness tends to turn to sadness and dispair quickly and we find ourselves struggling to see the blessings in life.
Joy; however, is not a feeling at all. Joy is a choice. A choice we must make daily ~ maybe even several times a day. Joy is not based on our situation or circumstance; it comes from having a personal relationship with God, given to us through the Holy Spirit. Joy is a constant, internal state of being. Joy is a heart issue. While happiness fades away when life doesn’t go the way we expect it to, joy remains. Joy can carry you through a battle if you choose to embrace it. It’s possible to go through a tragic, unexpected event that forces you to grieve wholeheartedly and still have joy. While our family has been on the battlefield over the years, it’s joy that has helped us put one foot in front of the other. Joy has made us resilient warriors in life. It’s because of joy that we can rise from the brokenness and face each day with a new sense of purpose, see the beauty that still surrounds us and a reason to smile.
Have you ever been in a situation that caused your heart to grieve, yet you were still able to be joyful?
James 1:2 “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…”
Leave a Reply