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"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such, there is no law."
(Galatians 5:22)
Need some more joy in your life? I can always use an extra measure of joy. One of the fruits of the Spirit, according to our biblical text for today, is joy. The Greek word translated "joy" is chara. Some of the definitions for this word I found are cheerfulness, gladness, clam delight, and exceeding joy ( BlueLetterBible.org).
To have this kind of joy, one must have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and have the Holy Spirit living within him or her. This does not mean we will not experience bad days, moods, or hard times. But what is so amazing is, even amid the suffering and pain, we still can have joy. Happiness may be fleeting, but joy is a constant reality for the child of God.
The world tries so hard to manufacture this spiritual fruit apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ. But it simply cannot be found. Sure, there are moments of pleasure and exhilaration, but these are fleeting pleasures that do not remain. That is why Mondays are so manic; they are far removed from the weekend and must be endured. But not so for followers of Jesus. We can have joy on Monday and every other day of the week because our joy is not predicated upon another person or another experience. Rather, our joy is found in Jesus Christ, who loves us, and the Holy Spirit, who abides within us.
Take a couple of minutes and watch this new song by Phil Wickham entitled, "House of the Lord": |
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