“I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no [boundaries].” 2 Corinthians 7:4 NIV
When you reside secure in Christ, His joy becomes resident in you.
My thoughts and comments today are about “irrepressible joy.”
Without some redeeming measure of joy, daily life can be drudgery. Life can be soul-wearying if circumstances are allowed to preempt joy. I think the problem is a misunderstanding of joy, settling for similar emotions that offer some respite from life’s burdens but fall short of joy. Joy abides; emotional substitutes don’t. God’s intent for you is bigger and better. “I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles, my joy knows no [boundaries].” 2 Corinthians 7:4 NIV.
How would your life be different if you had a joy that was undiscourageable? “You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.” Psalm 16:11 NIV. Jesus wants real joy to be your experience permanently not periodically. But how is that possible and practical? Jesus said, “If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:10-11 NIV. Jesus explained from His personal experience and example, “. . just as I have obeyed and remain in His love.”
The Bible consistently connects joy with love, and love with obedience. Jesus sets the order this way: obedience evidences love; love establishes the source and substance of joy. Joy resides naturally in Christ. When you reside secure and continually in Christ, His joy becomes resident in you. John understood Jesus to promise, “. . that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Imagine! His joy becomes your joy, full and complete, indescribable and irrepressible. “You believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.” 1 Peter 1:8 NIV. What the Bible calls “inexpressible,” I call “irrepressible joy” – joy you cannot keep to yourself.
Happiness is wonderful, but do not confuse its fickle emotion with joy. The derivation of the word, “happiness,” relates to “happening, circumstance, or happenstance – a chance occurrence.” Joy has little to do with chance or circumstance. Those things vary from moment to moment and situation to situation, as will your happiness. Joy is directly related to your security in Christ – unshakable and unchangeable. Joy does not come because good things are happening, nor leave when difficult things happen. Read Romans 8:37-39 NIV. Your mood and emotions may suppress joyful feelings for a moment, but joy resides in the heart occupied with Jesus, whatever its present surroundings or circumstance.
The Apostle Paul’s life was neither predictable nor trouble-free. See 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 NKJV. To the Christ-followers in Philippi who were suffering persecution, Paul wrote a letter that is all about inexpressible joy that is found in Christ. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice! . . Be joyful always.” Philippians 4:4-8 NIV/1 Thessalonians 5:16 NIV.
My prayer for you today is that you live with irrepressible and inexpressible joy.