Living Close to God Brings Joy

Prayer: Dear God, open my heart to receive what you want for me. Amen

At the outset we need to clarify the nature of joy - what it is and what it is not.  Joy is not the same as happiness. Happiness is a good feeling about what is going on in our lives. We can be happy about winning a game we have played. We can be happy about graduating from school. We can be happy about a successful business transaction, buying a new car or seeing a rise in our stock value. Happiness is a good feeling about something occurring in our lives.

 On the other hand, joy is an all prevailing sense that something magnanimous has occurred or is presently occurring. It may be something in our lives or something in the world. Its activator is always God. It will be a gift from God bringing us joy. While happiness resides in our emotions, joy takes up residency within our souls. Happiness expires in time - joy lingers with residual effects. Happiness makes us feel good - joy alters who we are and how we see things. Happiness is often tied to our successes - joy is tied to God’s activity.

 When the calendar changes we wish people a happy new year and sing Auld Lang Syne. When its Christmas we sing Joy to the World the Lord has come. Joy is our in-depth response to a life changing gift from God.

 While much of the above is semantic, it does depict the place of joy in our relationship with God. Joy is the product of living close to God.

God’s Spirit actually lives within us. Quite close! As the reality of this truth slowly matures within us, our joy expands, filling in the hidden recesses of our souls. This fulness characterizes joy and differentiates it from happiness.

 This joy emanates from our closeness with God and recycles back into joy so we have a rhythmic cadence: closeness - joy - closeness - joy . . .

This cadence is initially set in motion by God’s Spirit - the kick-starter.