More Than Happy: The Secret to Joy When Life Hurtsنموونە

It can be hard to experience joy in certain seasons of life. In my life and ministry, I’ve discovered several obstacles that keep us from experiencing joy. Let’s explore a couple here.

Isolation makes it hard to have and sustain joy. The church I lead includes many people who have moved to our area in the past ten years. These people are starting over. Isolation is easy here, and it inhibits joy.

Exhaustion distorts your perception of reality. I define exhaustion as when our output consistently exceeds our input. There are times we have to give out more than we take in, but if you sustain yourself in that consistently, there’s a price to pay, including a loss of joy.

I grew up hearing this acronym for J.O.Y - “Jesus first, others second, yourself last.” There's truth here, but there’s also danger. When you put yourself last, you often never consider yourself. Jesus told his disciples to love your neighbor AS yourself, not love your neighbor INSTEAD of yourself.

When you get on an airplane, what do they tell you? “In the event of a loss of cabin pressure, put your mask on first.” If you don't put your mask on first, you can't help the person next to you. Caring for yourself is not selfish. You can't serve God wholeheartedly while in total burnout. (See Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 19 if you've never read it.) But refusing to sacrifice is selfish, too.

Sustained tension can be the product of a stressful, toxic, or unhealthy environment. I worked for many years in an unhealthy church. In that environment, it was hard to find joy because of all the tension. So, is it possible that your struggles with joy are environmental in origin?

When you feel like there is no purpose to what you're doing, that feeling will be present with a joyless experience. You say, “Why keep doing this if no one appreciates it? Does this even matter?” Those questions can cause you to start going through the motions.

In contrast, joy is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. When the environment of our hearts is a submission to the Holy Spirit and a humble desire to follow what the Spirit's telling us, joy begins to overflow in our lives. When I look back at the times when I stopped having joy, many of them were the product of my resistance to what the Holy Spirit wanted me to do.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Paul writes: “Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Notice he doesn't say give thanks FOR all circumstances, but IN all circumstances. There's something in every situation to be thankful for, if you ask God to guide your eyes.

These obstacles are real, but they're not permanent. Tomorrow we'll discover why our joy isn't dependent on earthly circumstances.