Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What brings you joy? I can imagine you immediately started thinking of some great things in your life that bring you joy. Now, what's a joy killer in your life? There's a variety of things that we could talk about on both sides, which are fun to think about.
When Things Are Going Well
Our Verse of the Day is 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 16 and 17. "Always be joyful. Never stop praying."
This great when we're having a great day, isn't it? If we got up, we had a cup of coffee or whatever we do in the morning, things are going great. We hear "always be joyful." It's like, yes, amen, got it. But if things aren't going well—whoa! The whole "always be joyful"—it's like, you've got to be kidding me. Really? Always be joyful?
We're going to unpack this a little bit and actually figure out what this translates to in our daily lives and what this looks like in our life.
The House on Fire Question
If your house was on fire, what is the number one thing that you would grab before you ran out the door? What is the most important thing to you? Hopefully, if you have a family, that's your family. What would be the thing you would want to save? That if everything else burned up, at least you had that?
Well, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2 says, talking about Jesus: "Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross."
It didn't say He had joy in the cross. It said He endured the cross, but the joy that was set before Him. Why is that important? Because you were that thing He wanted to save from the fire. You were that thing that He said was so valuable to Him that you were the joy that was set before Him as He endured the cross.
Is Jesus Enough?
When we talk about "always be joyful," the question that we have to ask ourselves is: Is Jesus in return? Is He that one thing that we will always hold on to? That's our go-to in the world. When everything burns down, everything else goes crazy, we lose everything—is Jesus enough?
That's truly how we encapsulate this verse: "Always be joyful." Outside of that, you can't understand how we could always be joyful.
Joy Is Not Happiness
This is not—just like the verse about Jesus—this is not about walking around being happy: Yay! I'm happy that I have to endure the cross. It's not about happiness and a smile on your face. It's about an underlying core joy.
Galatians talks about joy as a fruit of the Spirit that we receive from Him. It's a gift. When we're experiencing difficulty and struggles, it's not about happiness and a smile on your face. It's an underlying core joy—to know that when everything else is on fire in our life, we have this core joy that comes from the Spirit living within us.
By the way, because that Spirit comes from the Spirit of God, it is a spiritual representation. All the things that are physical in life that are physical could be on fire, and we could be losing it all, and we could still say, I have a joy that comes from the Spirit, because I know the one thing that I cherish above anything else is Jesus, and I will never lose that.
Hold On to Jesus
That's something I can hold on to and know that it will never abandon you, never leave you, never forsake you. He is always there to guide you, to comfort you, to lead you. That is where we find our joy.
That's why the last part of the verse says, "Never stop praying"—never stop talking to Him. That encapsulates what I'm sharing because it's always about communication. It's always about finding our joy in Him, prioritizing Him over everything else. Even if everything else was lost.
Where Are You Finding Your Joy?
I would just encourage you: Where are you finding your joy today? I pray genuinely, I pray for everyone that's listening to this, that you will truly find your joy in Jesus as you spend time talking to Him today.
