June 30, 2018

Choosing Joy: Discovering your worthas a child of God.

I sat down to define Joy.  What I know from my own life is that it isnot a state of “happiness”.  Joy doesn’tseem to bubble up from the soul as eternal optimism – happy go lucky – bubbly –nonsense.  Joy often seems elusive butobtainable.  I think it is more a choiceof pursuit than a natural bend to your personality.

Merriam-Webster defines Joy as thefollowing:

1. a: the emotion evoked bywell-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what onedesires: delight. b: the expression or exhibition of such emotion: gaiety.  2: a state of happiness or felicity:bliss.  3: a source of cause or delight.

The definition seems worldly andempty.  If I am in pursuit of somethingthat I am able to obtain on my own than my ability to have joy is based onexternal factors such as position, wealth, beauty and accomplishment.  This will drive my personality type into anendless over production of working hard to validate my worth by my ownefforts.  That leads me to work harder,apply myself more, and it becomes an elusive trap bound by my physicallimitations.  That also causes my view ofthe world to switch to those who are with me and those who work againstme.  This is a very empty andunfulfilling way to live.  I know, as Ihave tried it.  It has kept me up atnight with worry and fret.  It has memeasuring my accomplishments by my success and is a comparison trap of how Imeasure up to others.  It give thosearound me the power to validate my efforts and self-worth or tear it apart andmy heart shatters.

God did not intend for our worth to bemeasured by the world, but only in him and by him.  We are God’s children and since we were bornout of his lineage, we are defined by our Father and we should walk and behavein a manner that identifies us with our father.

At patheos.com, Jack Wellman explainsthat “joy isn’t defined like happiness which is based upon happening or whetherthings are going well or not.  No, joyremains even amidst the suffering.  Joyis not happiness.  Joy is an emotionthat’s acquired by the anticipation, acquisition or even the expectation ofsomething great or wonderful.  It couldbe described as exhilaration, delight, sheer success or a very beautiful orwonderful experience such as wedding or a graduation but the definition of joythat the world holds is not nearly amazing as biblical joy but joy is also agift.

If any of you have ever worked hard toachieve a goal or accomplishment, then to have someone drop a critical word hasyou spinning in circles feeling hurt or angry, you know that performance based joy is subject to anyone’s interpretation of your performance.  If those around you measure joy or success indifferent standards, than your definition and measurement will not be an attainable standard across the board and will ultimately result indissatisfaction and leave you longing for more.

I am so thankful that in my journey tofind out why I often feel my joy is lacking and having a hard time finding asolid grasp on how to fill it back up again, I have discovered that joy is notbased from how I feel and what I have accomplished, but rather from who’s Iam.  Joy is my birthright.  It was established when I accepted Jesus intomy life to purify my heart and give me a purpose and an identity in Christ.

I hope that as I journey to understandand claim my joy from my father, that you will join me in the day in and dayour discovery of joy.  I promise to behonest and vulnerable in hopes that you will identify with the struggles andvictories in changing my mindset from a fixed position to one of growing inlove and grace because of Christ.

I choose the Joy that is based inChrist!

Kathy