I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart

Sometimes I get so caught up in the personal and relational struggles of being a Christian, I forget the joy ultimately comes from trusting and following Jesus. Even though as Christians we know that we are supposed to not seek happiness from wealth or possession, many times we still seek happiness from 'good things' like friendship, delight in nature and creation.. But God's big lesson over the past few weeks has been that true, lasting happiness can only be found in Christ :)

More than that we're commanded to rejoice (see Phil 4:4 as an example. Wait, I remembered how short it is, here we go: "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!"

And this evening again, I was reminded of this. The minister started off and said: "The one goal that everyone in the world shares is to be happy. Everyone wants to be happy. I bet you that you will never ever ever find someone who tells you that his goal in life is to be miserable. And we get fooled by so many things that promise us happiness, like the lifestyles of the stars, but the only thing that can bring us true happiness is loving and obeying Jesus".

It doesn't mean we're always going to be ridiculously over the top happy. Happiness is really a temporal fleeting sensation. I think a better word for the type of happiness we have in Christ is JOY. And what is joy?

So what is joy? As the minister of the first sermon I heard in 2009 explained it: "Joy in the Lord is the deep quiet assurance that I belong to Jesus and that nothing can snatch us away from Christ".

So my resolution this year is to fight for joy and not let the world rob joy from me by deceiving me into thinking that other things can offer me more happiness and satisfaction than Jesus... Let's see how this one turns out!