My only Hope

The Secrets of Real Joy
Ptr. Peter Tanchi / Sunday, June 29, 2008

At a time when soaring fuel and food prices and news of calamities are upon us, can people wake up in the morning and still say: “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24)? It’s hard to put on a sunny disposition when the weather is bad. It’s hard to wear a smile on your face when the outlook is gloomy.

But Paul exhorts in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!” Can that be done in a world that seems to be spinning out of control? If that’s the way we view it, it’s a difficult thing to do. If, however, we believe that God is in control, it can be done.

If there’s one piece of advice we can pay heed to in a world full of problems that can put us down, it’s to BEWARE OF JOY ROBBERS!  What are these joy robbers?

1. NEGATIVE THINKING. As Clement Stone opines: “There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative.” Chuck Swindoll submits: “…life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.” There is mind power that controls behavior.  Positive thinking projects into positive disposition dictating positive behavior. Vice-versa, negative thinking projects into negative disposition dictating negative behavior.

2. PEOPLE. God allows people to disrupt or interrupt our lives. People’s quirks and peculiarities could spoil our fun.   Some people can be unnerving. How they affect us is up to us.  They can either get to us or we can remain unaffected. Whether we consider them friends or foes depends on whether or not we welcome and accept them as God’s tools to refine our rough edges for character development.

3. CIRCUMSTANCES. There are circumstances beyond our control. But when they come along, there is one thing we can control – ourselves. As Epictetus said, “It is not your problems that are bothering you. It is the way you are looking at them.”

God has a message in every circumstance that comes our way. He is always at work in and through them. We just have to dig into the heart and mind of God for us to have an overview of what’s going on. “When Christ is the center of your focus all else will come into proper perspective.” That’s a great piece of wisdom to live by. So, if we see disastrous global events as God’s way of turning people’s hearts to Himself, we can be still and know that He is God.

Real joy is independent of people or circumstances. Its Source is God. REAL JOY IS CENTERED ON CHRIST, who said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15:11).  Unless we’ve heard the bad news, we will never appreciate the good news. Joy comes from knowing that we were doomed for hell because of sin, but Jesus paid the wages of sin. There is joy in salvation found in Christ alone. Jesus appeals: “Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24). If we will only listen and turn to Christ, we will know that growing in love for God and others more than ourselves will increase our joy. Then we will realize that JOY is spelled J-JESUS, O-OTHERS, and Y-OU.
This became very real in Paul’s life after learning the secret:  THE SECRET OF REAL JOY IS A CHRIST-CENTERED MINDSET, having: (1) CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S GOODNESS; and (2) CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S POWER.

Paul shows us the divine way to pure joy, positive attitude and proper perspective. Paul’s letter exhorting the Philippian church to rejoice at all times was written while he was in prison. He did not allow the circumstance he was in to dampen his spirit, for his joy was in the Lord. In Paul’s turf, there was no room for joy robbers to steal what he had or frustrate the sharing of the Gospel.

Believers and unbelievers alike were encouraged because of the way Paul handled life’s crises. His eyes were on the Lord.  His confidence was therefore in the goodness and power of God. This confidence Paul had in God kept him from grumbling or questioning God, but instead made him cooperate with God’s plans. His adversity became God’s opportunity to bring others to salvation, and later be used to spark a spiritual revival in Philippi and eventually the whole of Europe.  Paul saw how God began this good work in the lives of Lydia, the slave girl and the jailer (Acts 16:12-34). He was therefore confident that He who opens the hearts of people and causes them to believe, will also transform and continue the work until completion when Jesus appears. Hence, Paul wrote: “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

If we are centered on Christ, our confidence will be in God’s goodness and power. In which case, joy robbers will not have any chance of breaking into our lives. And as we see the day of Christ approaching, we can work heartily at breaking the Good News to others in the middle of all the bad news. In any circumstance, in sickness or in health, in good or bad weather, in robust or glum economy, around people of all types, we can, like Paul, be joyful always.