Joy in Context

Did you wonder about the last joy post?  I am a week late, but still here!

In the context of joy I have been very observant of my daughter and her joyful nature.  She bounds through the house, skips across the tile, races upstairs and has a smile on her face most of the time.  She also has a very messy room, makes poor food choices and is unaware of what might hurt another's feelings.  It has caused me to reflect on the core of joy.  Joy is a fruit of the spirit, which is the foundation for this portion of my blog.  God put joy in the context of the other fruits.  As a reminder, the fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  When you take things in the context they are created in, it can expand and deepen their meaning.  I have found this with joy.

Our joy is to come from a deep seated belief in our heavenly inheritance, what Jesus did for us on the cross, the fact that we are a treasured possession of the one who "..made the sand a boundary for the sea,..." (Jeremiah 5:22)  Joy is an action, a decision, a way to expect good things or look for the good things in our circumstances.  Remember my first post on joy?  And then we look at joy in the context of the other fruits of the spirit and it takes on more weight.  Joy is more than happiness and smiles.  It is a feeling, but it is also a choice and requires the other fruits of the spirit in order to maintain a constancy of joy  in our lives.  Joy is beautiful when it is gentle and patient, joy can provide us peace for our soul, kind words and goodness bring us joy, we find joy in our faith, love is a joyful feeling, and joy requires self-control! 

I just finished reading the book of Isaiah, talk about self-control!  Whew, serious conviction in that book.  The book holds Isaiah's sermons to the Israelites regarding their straying from God and their need to return to him, tear down their idols and remember the God of their forefathers.  But amid all the words of correction there are a couple bright spots and clear paths for joy.  One of those scriptures is Isaiah 58: 13&14.  Isaiah had been talking earlier in the chapter about the rituals they were practicing (fasting being one of them) and that their rituals were not rooted in any relationship with the God of their fathers.  It was nothing more than a ritual, like any ritual we have in our lives today, perhaps like doing the dishes.  It meant nothing to their soul and it was completely out of context.  Then...
"'If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.'  the mouth of the Lord has spoken.' (Isaiah 58:13&14)

As our children and ourselves are challenged throughout the day to choose a different path, to speak unkindly about someone, or to get caught up in an inappropriate discussion, to leave someone out, to lash out in anger, our joy is zapped, it is removed from the context in which it was intended.  When we gossip, when we are unkind, the feeling we have is not joy.  If we want to approach life with joyful expectation, we need to take into account all the fruits of the spirit, we need to approach the temptation to take the broader path with a love action (Normal Action or Love Action) which will point us toward the less traveled path.  And we need to equip our children to do the same thing.  Doesn't it take self-control to not speak idle words?  But aren't we more joyful when we employ that self-control?

God wants us to walk in ALL his ways, not just the fun ones.  But when we employ all his ways our life is in his hands and we are free to experience his joy, that deep seated joy that is based in his truth.  That means employing joy in the context it was intended.
"Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people.  Walk in all the ways I command you that it may go well with you."  (Jeremiah 7:23)

My daughter attended a birthday party this week.  She took some time to decide whether she would go or not.  Normally she would just say yes to a party.  In this case she had some concerns.  The party was in the evening, she was a little nervous about the theme, she was nervous about the number of girls there and how that all might play out with a group of 11 year old girls.  This is highly introspective for my 'live in the joyful moment' daughter.  In the end, she chose to attend the party and had a great time, but I was blessed that she considered the situation and sought to be in a situation where her joy would not be zapped.

Joy in context is eternal joy that cannot be zapped.  And from that joy our soul finds peace, which is what we will focus on in August!

By His Grace