Joy Versus Happiness
Romans Chapter 12: 10-21
10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
It is Sunday, and by all accounts it has been a very nice day. I have spent time with my family, been able to lounge around a bit and unwind, and the weather has been nice. Yes I can say without any reservations that right now I am happy. Does that mean that I have joy?
Many of you may read this and find that a funny question, after all in our everyday speech there is little difference in the usage between these two words. Some might even say that they are synonymous. However, happiness and joy are not the same. What's the difference? Happiness is a momentary feeling, an emotion that is dependent on the circumstances of your life. If it is your birthday and your friend takes you out for a nice dinner and buys you a fine gift, then you are happy. But, if that same day on the calendar rolls by and all of your friends forget you, will you still have a smile on your face? Probably not.
The fact is happiness is not something that we have any control over. We like to think that we do, but if you stop and think about it I think you'll see we don't. We can put ourselves in a position to be happy more often by making good decisions: Hanging out with the type of people we enjoy being around, having a job that allows us to feel fulfilled and lets us use our talents, and making time for hobbies and leisure activities we enjoy can all help us to be happy. But what happens when that job that you really enjoy experiences cut backs, or your best friend has to relocate half way across the country, or a routine visit to the doctor reveals that you can no longer enjoy your favorite past time.
We live in a society that is hung up on being happy. The commercials flashing across our TV screens say that if we have enough money, buy enough stuff, look the right way, or have enough sex that we will be perpetually happy. In reality there's never enough money, you can only have so much stuff, plastic surgery can only go so far and if you rely on physical gratification, you'll never fully quench that thirst. So if you will concede to me that happiness is fleeting, then you might logically ask what is joy and how is it different.
Joy is not dependent on the circumstances in your life. Joy is an attitude, a gift given to us by God. That does not mean that if you accept Jesus as Lord that you will never know hardship, pain, or trials. It also does not mean that life will be easy or that you will always feel wonderful. Joy is not floating on cloud nine 24/7. What Joy is, is the ability to look past the circumstance. When bad things happen, we keep perspective. We look at the world and know that this is temporary. Being a Christian is not a fix all for your life. Saying the sinner's prayer, and meaning it, won't instantly make all of your past mistakes disappear. Although God forgives and forgets when we sincerely repent, we still may have to deal with the consequences of our past actions.
Being Christian does allow us to look at our problems and know that no matter how we have messed up in the past, no matter how many people we have isolated ourselves from that we are loved. Not only are we loved, but we are loved by the one who created us. Being saved is knowing that when we speak to God, he is there, he listens, and he cares. That is the essence of Joy, understanding that we matter and will spend eternity with the one who called us out of the dust. So when we lose our job, we're not alone. When our spouse walks out the door and tells us to drop dead, we're not alone. When the doctor says we have only a few months to live, we're not alone.
God offers us Joy, the ability to stop and look at things through his eyes for a moment and realize that we already have the greatest gift anyone could give us, His love. When we understand that, really grasp it, we might be unhappy sometimes, but we still have our joy. Now doesn't that make you happy?
It is Sunday, and by all accounts it has been a very nice day. I have spent time with my family, been able to lounge around a bit and unwind, and the weather has been nice. Yes I can say without any reservations that right now I am happy. Does that mean that I have joy?
Many of you may read this and find that a funny question, after all in our everyday speech there is little difference in the usage between these two words. Some might even say that they are synonymous. However, happiness and joy are not the same. What's the difference? Happiness is a momentary feeling, an emotion that is dependent on the circumstances of your life. If it is your birthday and your friend takes you out for a nice dinner and buys you a fine gift, then you are happy. But, if that same day on the calendar rolls by and all of your friends forget you, will you still have a smile on your face? Probably not.
The fact is happiness is not something that we have any control over. We like to think that we do, but if you stop and think about it I think you'll see we don't. We can put ourselves in a position to be happy more often by making good decisions: Hanging out with the type of people we enjoy being around, having a job that allows us to feel fulfilled and lets us use our talents, and making time for hobbies and leisure activities we enjoy can all help us to be happy. But what happens when that job that you really enjoy experiences cut backs, or your best friend has to relocate half way across the country, or a routine visit to the doctor reveals that you can no longer enjoy your favorite past time.
We live in a society that is hung up on being happy. The commercials flashing across our TV screens say that if we have enough money, buy enough stuff, look the right way, or have enough sex that we will be perpetually happy. In reality there's never enough money, you can only have so much stuff, plastic surgery can only go so far and if you rely on physical gratification, you'll never fully quench that thirst. So if you will concede to me that happiness is fleeting, then you might logically ask what is joy and how is it different.
Joy is not dependent on the circumstances in your life. Joy is an attitude, a gift given to us by God. That does not mean that if you accept Jesus as Lord that you will never know hardship, pain, or trials. It also does not mean that life will be easy or that you will always feel wonderful. Joy is not floating on cloud nine 24/7. What Joy is, is the ability to look past the circumstance. When bad things happen, we keep perspective. We look at the world and know that this is temporary. Being a Christian is not a fix all for your life. Saying the sinner's prayer, and meaning it, won't instantly make all of your past mistakes disappear. Although God forgives and forgets when we sincerely repent, we still may have to deal with the consequences of our past actions.
Being Christian does allow us to look at our problems and know that no matter how we have messed up in the past, no matter how many people we have isolated ourselves from that we are loved. Not only are we loved, but we are loved by the one who created us. Being saved is knowing that when we speak to God, he is there, he listens, and he cares. That is the essence of Joy, understanding that we matter and will spend eternity with the one who called us out of the dust. So when we lose our job, we're not alone. When our spouse walks out the door and tells us to drop dead, we're not alone. When the doctor says we have only a few months to live, we're not alone.
God offers us Joy, the ability to stop and look at things through his eyes for a moment and realize that we already have the greatest gift anyone could give us, His love. When we understand that, really grasp it, we might be unhappy sometimes, but we still have our joy. Now doesn't that make you happy?
