Joy is an elusive commodity in the Christian life. It’s something God wants to give us. It’s something we want to have. Yet, it is also something that many of us wish we had more of.
Moses prayed in Psalm 90:14, “Satisfy us in the morning with Your loving kindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Who wouldn’t want to sing for joy and be glad all our days?!?
Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), yet we can cooperate with Him in the process of cultivating joy. Philippians 2:12-13 says, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. “
This tells us that God works in us, prompting, motivating, leading us. We, then, are to do our part in responding to His work in our lives. As we feed our minds with the truth of Scripture, as we meditate on it day and night (Psalm 1:1-3), as we open ourselves to growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18), we can cultivate joy.
It is important to understand what joy is and isn’t. Joy is not a superficial happiness that depends on favorable circumstances. Nor is it a breezy denial of trying circumstances.
Joy is a settled sense of gratitude and hope rooted in the reality that trials will be replaced by even greater blessings, so that - no matter how bad things are now - in the end, all will be more than well!
THERE ARE TWO THINGS WE CAN DO TO CULTIVATE JOY IN THE FACE OF TRIALS AND SUFFERING
First, we can burn into our minds the four benefits of trials
There are four potential benefits of trials:
- Spiritual transformation
- Impact in ministry
- Eternal reward
- Deeper fellowship with God
- Spiritual transformation
James 1:2 - 4 says,
“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
If you've been reading my posts for a while, you know that one of my
Max-ims is:
The road to transformation always goes through the tunnel of trials.
Just as greater physical exercise may result in greater physical strength, so greater spiritual exercise may result in greater spiritual strength.
A positive response to trials yields the priceless benefit of spiritual transformation, including joy!
- Greater impact in ministry
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says,
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble, with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”
No trial need ever be wasted! Not only will God use it to transform us, but if we let Him, He will also use it to work through us to help others.
- Eternal reward
Romans 8:18 says, “
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
God gives us disproportionate eternal reward for every single response of faith and obedience. We cannot even give someone a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name without receiving an eternal reward! (Matthew 10:42) We cannot out give God!
- Deeper fellowship
Philippians 3:10 says, “...
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering…“
Christ suffered for us more than we suffer for Him, yet He didn’t have to. Though we typically suffer because we have to, He voluntarily suffered for us because He loves us. When we grasp this, when we take this astonishing truth into our hearts, we develop deep appreciation and gratitude for what He has done in suffering and dying for us.
A bond of identity is forged with Him through our mutual suffering, and we can enter into a level of fellowship with Him that we cannot know without suffering.
These are the four potential benefits of trials. To help us cultivate joy, we must burn these four benefits into our minds.
But there is an additional thing we can do to help us cultivate joy in the face of trials and suffering.
Second, we can fix our focus on the future, when in the end, all will be more than well.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 says,
“Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look, not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
This passage tells us that if we look at things that are temporal, we will lose heart. If we look at things that are eternal, we will be renewed.
By fixing our focus on the future, we can use future reality to help us endure present reality. Hope gives us power to endure!
Missionary Jim Elliott famously said,
“He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep in order to gain that which you cannot lose.”
In the same way, he is no fool who is joyful in anticipation of future, disproportionate, permanent pleasure, in the face of temporary pain.
Conclusion
Timothy Keller said it eloquently:
“On the day of the Lord – the day that God makes everything right, the day that everything sad becomes untrue – on that day, the same thing will happen to your own hurts and sadness. You will find that the worst things that ever happened to you will in the end only enhance your eternal delight. On that day, all of it will be turned inside out and you will know joy beyond the walls of the world. The joy of your glory will be that much greater for every scar you bear.”
In summary, we may cultivate joy in this world by burning into our minds the four benefits of trials and by fixing our focus on the future when, in the end, all will be more than well.
For more information on the importance of burning biblical truths into our minds, watch my video,
Master the Bible So Well That the Bible Masters You, which is currently free to my email subscribers.
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