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A SIMPLE FORMULA FOR JOY

    When we experience those moments of pure joy, even if only for a moment, don’t we wish we could prolong it? Don’t you wish those you love could experience joy more often?

    Certainly, we’re bombarded all day long through commercials, tv, movies, and social media that the formula for joy is a higher title, more money, or more things. Despite these messages, the evidence doesn’t support this formula. We can even see the flaws in this formula in the headlines or with our interactions with others. We see others that seem to have all these things, yet it’s not enough. They don’t exude joy. They’re still searching for something. Something to fill that emptiness they feel inside. Something to give them complete joy.

    Beyond the obvious flaws of this formula, can we even trust the source of these messages? Who is sending us these messages? Do the people sending these messages know us? Do they know how we can find joy? Are they sending us this message to help us or to help themselves? Often, these message-bearers have a selfish motivation, they don’t have our best interests at heart, or they may have fallen into the trap of believing this flawed formula themselves.

    So, what is the formula for joy from a source we can trust? We can trust Jesus. We can trust that He has our best interest at heart. That He loves us unconditionally and wants us to experience joy. Not only does He want us to experience joy. He wants us to experience His complete joy.

    So, what do I need to do? What’s the formula to experience joy? John 15:9-11 gives us the simple formula –

    “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

    It seems whenever a discussion of following Jesus’s commands comes up, people can often fall into a few camps:

    • Camp #1: People that have knowledge of the commands, but believe they’re no longer relevant. “These were written a long time ago for a different society so much of it doesn’t really apply today.” For someone in this camp, it seems they’re saying that God, the creator of everything, that is omnipotent and omnipresent, provided His Word to us, but He didn’t think ahead to what our society is like today? Is it more likely that God didn’t think ahead or that we would prefer not to follow these commands so we rationalize the excuse that they are no longer relevant?
    • Camp #2: People that have knowledge of the commands, but believe they’re impossible to follow. “There are too many commands to follow. It’s impossible to keep track of all of them and, even if you could, no one can really follow them in the real world.” For someone in this camp, it seems they believe that God is not a loving God, but a cruel, dictatorial God that created us and then gave us commands that are impossible for us to follow. Is it more likely that God is a cruel, dictatorial God that likes to see us miserable OR that God loves us unconditionally, He knows our nature and what is best for us, so He has provided us with what we need to do to experience lasting joy?
    • Camp #3: People that have a surface level understanding of the Ten Commandments and think they’re all good. “Hey, I’m a good person. I haven’t killed anyone, cheated on my spouse, or stolen from someone, so I’m all good right?” Not so fast. No one is perfect. If we believe we’re all good, we’re deceiving ourselves.  “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:8-10)

    Arthur Jackson (Our Daily Bread, October 2024) explains that love and joy are associated with obedience – keeping Jesus’s commands. You can’t choose joy without choosing obedience. In Galatians 5:22-23, love and joy are listed as “fruit or evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of believers in Jesus: ‘The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Disobedience to Christ’s commands, specifically the command to love, robs us of joy. Empowered by the Spirit, however, we can obey Him, which results in joy that the world can’t give and can’t take away.”

    It’s a simple formula. Jesus tells us to remain in His love. How do we do that? By keeping His commands, we WILL remain in His love. By remaining in His love, we open the door so that His joy may be in us and that our joy may be complete.

    Although the formula is simple, it’s not easy. We are a broken people living in a fallen world so it is not easy for us to continually and consistently follow His commands. How cruel would it be for Jesus to tell us what we need to do in order to experience His joy, but not give us the ability to do it. We know Jesus is not cruel and that He loves us unconditionally. He wants us to experience His joy and for our joy to be complete. Although it’s not easy to follow His commands on our own, Jesus offers us the way. Jesus offers the Spirit to empower us so we can obey Him and receive the joy that the world can’t give and the world can’t take away. 

    Take care and God Bless.