Finding Joy

I've realized that there are far too many times that I am not as joyful as I should be.  Compared to the overwhelming portion of the world I am blessed beyond measure.  So what is wrong with me?  I think I have discovered two things that destroy my joy.

First, like almost everyone else my joy is affected greatly by unforeseen circumstances or trials that come to most of us on a regular basis.  Years ago when I was a ministry intern one of my responsibilities for the summer was to memorize certain passages of scripture.  The first one was James 1 .  I was really puzzled at the time when I was given this passage to memorize.

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

I mean consider it joy when you face trials, that really didn't make a lot of sense to a single 20 year old college student.  Wait ... maybe that was it!  As a 54 year old husband, father, grandfather and pastor it make a whole lot more sense, because over the last thirty-five years there have been many more trials.  Trials lead to perseverance, perseverance leads to maturity.  I hope that I have matured a lot over the years and when I am not in the midst of a trial it is easy to look back and see how "God has worked all things out for my good."   Things haven't always worked out the way that I wanted but that is not the promise of scripture.  God said that I could become mature and complete and that he was working things out for my good, not that they would always be good.  My prayer is that the next time I find myself in a trying time I will be able to remember God's faithfulness.

The second thing that can rob my joy is when I see people I care about in my family, community and church making decisions that I know are not wise.  A friend told me years ago that "anytime you want something more for someone than they want for themselves, you are the one that will be hurt".  His point was until a person realizes that there is something better out there for them they won't be hurt, because they are not mature and complete.  My prayer in this area is Reinhold Niebuhr's Serenity Prayer that "God will grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference".

What is stealing your joy?  I pray that we will all be able to single-mindedly live in peace and JOY this year.