Choose JoySample

DAY 34 - HARVEST OF JOY

Reflection: We each have capacity for joy, even as God is joyful. But to have true God-fuelled joy, we must be spiritually alive, and there’s only one way that happens. A grace-faith exchange of our death for Christ's on the cross, our life for his in resurrection. Then we too can say, ‘it’s no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me’.

Yet we don’t always feel joy, just as we aren’t always loving or peaceful, in our daily experience of being human. Yes, by faith we are perfect, hidden in Christ, beyond accusation. But in our ‘now but not yet’ experience, we aren't always feeling it!

Sometimes the battle for joy is one of discipline and common sense – healthy Christian practices, looking after our bodies, being generous, serving others, loving relationships. In this way, the joy of our salvation is given every chance to permeate life.

Sometimes, despite all this, joy feels distant, and a medical or trauma issue may need to be addressed. Seek expert support in its various therapeutic forms, as well as healing prayer, and joy will be a closer friend.

Sometimes it's a spiritual battle requiring spiritual weapons against an enemy Jesus told us wants to rob, kill, destroy, accuse, confuse, and mislead. Here, the Word is our sword, and creating a faith environment is our shield – the covering of church community is vital.

Sometimes we endure all three, but ‘the battle is the Lord’s’. Life is not static, but we can find the equilibrium of gifted joy. You might still ask, surely there's a spiritual state of ‘just joy’? There is, it's called heaven.

Jesus asked us to pray for heaven’s reality every day, a sure sign that it’s our true home. But until the fullness of time when the last of his children are found, and all things are brought under his rule, joy is a beacon leading us to the presence of heaven on earth.

Choose joy: Follow the advice of the ‘sometimes’ above.