Upon returning from our time in Ireland many years ago, my wife and I visited friends in several churches. One assembly in particular that had been spiritually alive in the past, seemed at that present time to be missing some important ingredient. When I asked Salle for her opinion as to what it might be, there was not a moment’s hesitation. Her discerning answer was simply, but sadly, “JOY!
Today, I am beginning an extended series of articles on this very important subject. As D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes in his book, Spiritual Depression, “Unhappy Christians are, to say the least, a poor recommendation for the Christian Faith; and there can be little doubt that the exuberant joy of the early Christians was one of the most potent factors in the spread of Christianity.”
Joy and its derivatives are found at least two-hundred and one times in the Bible. Jesus was very explicit that He wanted His children to experience the maximum of joy in their Christian life, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full." No Christian will ever be fully satisfied until he or she has found the real, true joy, which is found in Jesus Christ alone.
Our spiritual trinkets and toys become stagnant with use over a period of time, unless a genuine joy fills our souls. I agree with C.S. Lewis when he said, “What does not satisfy when we first find it, was not the thing we were desiring.”