Has Anyone Seen My Joy?Sample

Has anyone seen my joy?

What would you say brings joy to your life? Some might say it’s family, money, food, or spending time outside. We all have something that brings a smile to our faces or that warm fuzzy feeling. As we get older, however, we tend to be less joyful. All the problems we face slowly take away the joy we once had. Have you ever felt this way? You looked at your life and thought, “How did I become this grumpy?” Or do you find yourself explaining to others that you were much more fun years ago? If that is the case, you have likely lost your joy.

How, then, do we make true the words of the apostle Paul telling us to rejoice? Perhaps that’s why he uses this word twice in such a short text: as Christians, we must remind ourselves of our joy in Christ. It won’t happen instantly and most definitely will not happen without intentional effort.

In this first step of our devotional, I’d like to bring up something that is essential to live out Paul’s instruction. Joy and happiness are two different things. Happiness is a feeling when something happens to us: a gift, seeing someone you like, or hearing something funny. Happiness is associated with external things. Joy, on the other hand, does not depend on circumstances. That is why you’ll barely find the Bible commanding us to be happy - the fruit of the Spirit, after all, is joy, not happiness.

God has something much greater for you than simple earthly happiness.

What if I told you that this joy that Paul presents to us can be achieved? That there is a way to rejoice regardless of what’s happening around you?

In the coming days, we’ll go over what the Bible says about joy and how we can live it in its fullness.