The Joy of The Lord is Your Strength
Hey Saints! Today, I woke up in a very good mood, for seemingly no reason at all, and a question crossed my mind in that very instance: Was I happy or was I joyful? Have you ever thought about what it means to have true joy? What is joy to begin with anyways? And why does the Bible speak specifically of joy rather than happiness? What’s the difference?
Well I did some personal studying and research and found the following things to be true:
Happiness is merely external, fleeting, and is typically triggered by other people or events. Joy, on the other hand, is internal, consistent, and derives solely from our spiritual relationship with God. In other words, we are happy because something or someone made us happy, but we are joyful because it is the believers' inheritance in Christ Jesus.
One thing I’ve come to realise about our generation is that we have revolved our entire lives around social media (LOL @ the irony). We continuously post images, thoughts and ideas to either impress the next person, uplift ourselves above one another, or give the illusion that life is better than it might truly be at the time. This is one of the unfortunate downsides of social media because we directly and indirectly affect the happiness of others when they see things they do not have, things they wish they had or people doing things they wish they could. Unfortunately, even believers have become susceptible to the comparison syndrome, which the Bible warns us is unwise (2 Corinthians 10:12).
But let's look at those who “have it all” for one second. Too often, we see people in Hollywood, who have all the cars, money, fame, influence and everything most people could only dream of, lack the joy that someone with less than half of that has. Why is that? It is because happiness is fleeting and can disappear in the twinkle of an eye when one thing goes wrong, while joy is internal and eternal, meaning it can never be taken away by any external force!
So, what does this all mean? The truth is, it means the reason God doesn't want us to waste time comparing is because there's no comparison at all! Let’s stop comparing ourselves with the world because the undeniable joy that we possess, the world can never have nor comprehend. So please remember this Saints: whether you just had the best of the best days, or the worst or the worst days, continue to rejoice in hope because God has assured us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). That promise of God has not and will not ever change!
