The Season of Lent: Joy
By: Alan Morales
Devotional
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25)
Reflection
It is clear that much of our world today revolves around the idea of happiness. Today, the culture screams “do what makes you happy.” It is this type of mentality that has swamped the self-help section of book stores and as a result, this is where you commonly find “best-sellers.” For many, happiness is not something, but it is the only thing and many are willing to spend money, time, health, and even compromise relationships in order to feel that sense of pleasure. If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves stuck in the same cat and mouse game that the world seems to find itself in. The reality is that happiness is very precarious and although you might be happy right now, something can quickly change that.
What then should we think of happiness? One of the great things about our God is that He has not called us to live miserable lives of penance. When we were saved, Jesus liberated us from the impending judgment that awaited us so that we would enjoy our new life in Christ. We see this in our everyday lives, whether it is celebrating Christmas with our families, having fun on game nights with friends, or doing the hobbies we love. We are called to enjoy our life in Christ because we have been freed from the penalty of sin and death. However, as valuable as those things are, we should not depend on the temporary things of this world because as soon as they're gone, we will be disappointed. For example, what would happen if you lost your sense of taste? For those of us that suffered through COVID-19, life was so miserable! I never imagined how much of my life depended on the sense of taste! As much as I'm ashamed of saying this, it was as if life was gloomy and without hope.
In the Christian life, the source of our hope is not on temporal things that produce happiness, rather, it is based on an eternal God that produces joy. Happiness is a state of emotion that is unstable and is as temporary as the things we place our hope on. However, joy is a stable state of being because of the one whom we find our hope in – an eternal and holy God. We find this to be true when we look at the two men who were traveling to Emmaus in the book of Luke. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to them as they were talking about His trial and crucifixion. When Jesus asked what they were talking about, Luke records that they “stood still, looking sad” (Lk 24:17). Then, replying to Jesus why they said, “...we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened” (Lk 24:21; emphasis added). The two men were sad because they had put their hope in a political agenda. They had expected Jesus to come and redeem Israel through political success and instead of looking at Jesus as the savior of their souls, they were simply looking at Him as someone who would give them what would make them happy. This is why Jesus goes on and tells them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Lk 24:25). Those men did not believe in Jesus and therefore, they were without joy.
While people waste their life by chasing smoke through happiness to be fulfilled in some way, true joy can only be found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the good news that is the Gospel, He dwells in us and produces fruit in our lives. Notice how joy is part of that fruit, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace…” (Gal 5:22). Therefore, joy is not something that is innate to us, it is something supernatural that only the Holy Spirit can give. Joy does not mean that you don't feel sadness or anger because I’m sure we have experienced plenty of that this past week! However, it does mean that even in the midst of suffering, disappointment, or longing, you have hope and peace knowing that God is still on His throne. Church, as we observe lent, let us not go with hopeless hearts as if Jesus was defeated, rather, let us have joyful hearts knowing that our Savior is alive and well.