Joy: Day 12
Sustaining Joy
By Terrance Wallace

… fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NIV

Joy is promised by God and something we should strive towards. Joy is often confused or substituted with happiness. Happiness is unpredictable and requires good circumstances to exist. God’s joy, on the other hand, sticks around. It doesn’t get chased off by troubles.

The prophet Jeremiah knew how happiness disappears when disruption is present:

[M]y soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. (Lamentations 3:17 ESV)

But the Holy Spirit supernaturally gives us great and lasting joy, even when we face affliction. In fact, it is this kind of joy that sustained Jesus in His greatest affliction and sustains us in ours (Hebrews 11-12). More than that, God can even use our joy to bless others in spite of our hardship. Listen to Paul’s words:

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. (2 Corinthians 8:1-2 ESV)

Unlike happiness, joy is true satisfaction. Several times God’s Word describes joy as “full” or “complete,” satisfying our hearts in a way that temporary happiness never can.

You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine. (Psalm 4:7 NLT)

I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! (John 15:11 NLT)

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. (Philippians 2:1-2 NIV)

Whatever hardships you may encounter this Advent season, may the sustaining joy that filled Jesus be the same joy that fills your heart.

Pray

Dear Lord, allow Your joy to be lived out loud through every situation I may find myself in. Show Yourself strong and mighty even in the most challenging seasons of my life. Help me to see Your joy in all creation. In Jesus’ Name, amen!

Act

Offer to take an elderly person shopping or to the movies or just for a drive to see the Christmas lights.

Stand outside of a gas station and give gas cards to people to help them pay for gas (get permission from the station’s attendant to do so).

Family Application

Put a candy cane in your neighbor’s mailbox with a note of joy attached to it. Use it as an opportunity to talk as a family about why we should spread joy to those around us and not keep it to ourselves.