While walking through a shopping mall or a grocery store, I often hear the strains of "Joy to the World," a popular Christmas carol, and recall the story of the angel's announcement of great joy to the shepherds. However, as I watch people busily running in and out of stores and up and down aisles in an effort to finish their Christmas shopping, I don’t see much joy.
According to Webster’s dictionary, joy is an emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune. When we listen to the news or view the latest updates of the world’s situation on the internet, we are aware of the ravages of multiple wars, destructive violence in our cities, and corruption in politics and major corporations. Our cities' headlines often depict murder, school shootings, vandalism, and natural catastrophes. Do these promote joy?
Many families suffer from unemployment, and children are torn between parents who can’t reconcile their differences. Countless numbers of lives are being destroyed by alcohol and drugs. So, the question remains: how can we have joy?
The answer lies in our perspective. A human perspective centers on the situations described above and allows for little or no cause for joy. It looks to people and circumstances to give the feeling of well-being or good fortune. If any joy is found, it will be short-lived because people and circumstances constantly change.
There is another perspective that makes a vast difference… a spiritual perspective. While the human perspective focuses on the emotion of happiness created by people and circumstances, a spiritual perspective goes much deeper. It can be experienced when tragedy strikes, we have been hurt, disappointed, or betrayed, and life takes an unexpected, unwanted turn. This perspective depends on what we believe is true and has Christ as its main focus.
A human perspective focuses on the material, the seen, while a spiritual perspective focuses on the unseen. “So we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable” (2 Corinthians 4:18 AMP).
When we focus on Christ and believe He is working in us and through our experiences for His glory and our spiritual well-being, we can experience inner joy. Habakkuk's situation in the Old Testament is a good example of this. “Though the fig tree does not blossom, and there is no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive fails, and the fields produce no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there are no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the Lord; I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation!” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 AMP). Did you notice his joy was a decision to look beyond his situation and not an emotion?
I often hear believers quickly confirm that they believe God’s promises but tend to follow their answer with the word but. This little word undermines their answer and indicates a lack of belief.
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