I have recently found a great deal of meaning in the seemingly small word: joy. This small but significant three letter word is terribly easy to overlook, and minimize to simple happiness or glee. However, I find that joy means so much more and is actually integral to our faith in a loving God.
Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Ps. 32:11
This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps. 118:24
Both of these verses seem to speak to something much more than happiness, a fleeting emotion, derived often from simple pleasures. At first glance I would say that these two verses speak to a deep appreciation and gratitude for who God is. It is an overflow of thankfulness and peace that spring up from a heart touched and moved by the love of a true personal, all-powerful God.
Another passage that comes to mind is in the first letter written to Timothy by the apostle Paul. Paul writes to his young son in the faith, instructing him to set his hope on the God, “who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”
Now I think it is important for me at the point to explain, perhaps, why this message has been so powerful to me in the last month or so. Here are a couple of lessons that I have learned and the misconceptions they came from.
1st misconception) The world is evil… escape. focus on heavenly things… then you’ll have peace and know truth…
Now I have actually just finally come to understand how wrong and dangerous that this thought process can be. I have had the distinct privileged to dialogue with author and professor Michael Wittmer who wrote a book by the name of Heaven is a Place on Earth. In our discussions he pointed out that too often we as christians focus on the fall chapter of the creation, fall, redemption narrative. Perhaps you have caught yourself believing that one day we will be free of this evil earth and all of the evil things upon it, and float away to paradise in the sky. Wittmer (and scripture) point toward the fact that Christ is bringing redemption to this earth. Revelation describes a new heaven and earth decending upon this one. When we miss the fact that we are created beings placed on this created earth, we find ourselves longing for home in outter space. The truth of the matter is that we are created to live here and therefore abandoning everything earthy goes against our nature, creation, and purpose. The truth to take out of this is while the world is fallen, it is being redeemed… we can still find good on this earth, and I would take it a step further to say that it is our job and mission to find the good the earth and claim it as our own.
2nd misconception) God gives us things to give away… get then give, get then give, get then give… forever, and ever, and ever.
I was sitting in my weekly staff meeting with my pastor and music minister when I asked the question: To what extent should we enjoy the blessings that God gives us? Now at the time it seemed a legitimate question, yet both my pastor and music minister stared puzzled at the meaning of my inquiry. After a moment my pastor replied, “100%.” I could barely even consider the response. We are called to share, and bless others… not enjoy… or so I thought. I was wrong. God has gently but firmly adjusted my understanding of his blessings and gifts. It seems that joy was always left out of the equation when I considered blessings. For me giving and sharing was always out of a sense of duty which, don’t get me wrong, came from a sense of love for my heavenly father.
Here’s where the truth got me though. Jesus says in his infamous “Sermon on the Mount” to a crowd, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” I’ve come to realize that God give us some gifts to build up the body, he gives us others to share with those in need, and sometimes God simply gives us gifts just because He loves us and wants us to know it. The truth is that if we believe that every gift and blessing is the same, we’re going to mess them all up. We have to use discernment which means there will be times when I should give away, and as hard as it is for me to believe, there are times when I should simply enjoy the goodness of God. My self-righteous humility must be put aside at times to find God’s will and purpose.
3rd misconception) The only fulfillment in life comes with purpose, mission, and vocation… get to work.
What are your spiritual gifts? What are your passions? What are your talents? How can you use those things to win souls for Jesus? Get to work… time is of the essence. I really used to live my life based off of these questions. I felt that my calling was a based on my “spiritual efficiency.” God placed me here with a purpose (see Jeremiah 1) and I only have so many years to live that out… So I got to the point where any “free time” had to be spent in preparing ministry, streamlining ministry, or in actual ministry itself… my calling became my life… and it can get a bit overwhelming. See the problem with this, is that it turns any unused time into a feeling of guilt. When I decided to rest and lose myself in the Scrubs marathon on any given Saturday afternoon, I was overwhelmed by all of the things that I could have been doing. Now don’t misunderstand me, I definitely enjoy ministry, I love it, I’m passionate about it, and as humbly as I can say this, I think I’m pretty good at it. But again I realized that there are definite scriptural proofs against this Christian work-aholism. One of the Big Ten (10 commandments) addresses this for crying out loud… “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day.” A mentor of mine once said, “Sometimes, the most spiritual thing you can do is rest…”
So… we can have joy in work… AND joy in rest? It really was a foreign concept to me. Yet, this idea of joy in rest has been central to our faith from the very beginning… literally. Yes, we should work to the purpose that God has given us and strive to fulfill the depth of our being. But sometimes… we can enjoy taking a break…
So what does it all mean?
I recently heard a term that coined by Psychologist Erich Fromm known as Biophilia. Biophilia when literally translated means the love of life, and the love of all things living. When I heard this term and its meaning in raw form, I was estatic. This ecompassed what I believe God wishes for us. It has also been known in some circles as Christian hedonism: the pursuit of all pleasure through Christ.
So here’s how it all ties together in light of the lessons I have recently learned and the misconceptions that I have overcome. God loves us and has blessed us. We should find joy in that, deep rooted, passionate, meaningful joy. God created the world in preparation for us, and though it is fallen, he is constantly redeeming through the grace of his Son. We must search out the good in this world. We must claim all good as our own. We must recognize that heaven in a place on earth… not in outter space. At the same time, we should recognize that God, as a loving Father, gives gifts out of his goodness, and we should enjoy them 100%. This means enjoying the opportunity to share them, enjoying the opportunity to give them away, and also enjoying the priveledge of simply recieving them. To do this, we pray what God would have us do with these blessings and by being obedient to his will. Following this understanding, we can enjoy rest. We can enjoy taking a break, and know that God actually commands us to step aside from our socially-acceptable work-aholism, to experience joy.
So what about you? Where you do you fall in all of this? Are you so focused on completely your mission, or growing spiritually, or being a Christian allstar, that you forget to enjoy the life that God has given you? When is the last time that you have seriously experienced joy in your life? When you were so completely engulfed in God’s joy that you couldn’t contain it?
What have you done to enjoy this day? What gifts have you been blessed with? To what extend have you enjoyed them?
My prayer is that you would come to embrace Biophilia… that you would love this life God has blessed you with. I pray that you would come to know joy in a new and exciting way, and that you would see God as your loving Father. I pray that you would come to trust Christ and the life that he makes available. Enjoy Life… Trust God… Know Joy… I think it’ll make a big difference.
Just Sayins All…
Rusty
When I look back on my short life and try to figure out how I got to where I am, to be who I am, and how I got through the things I did, I cannot help but see God working throughout my story. My life has been rocky to say the least and to say that I got here alone would be the biggest lie I’ve ever told. When I look at how God worked (and continues to work) in my life, I see that He always placed certain individuals along my path to guide me, correct me, and teach me in what it means to be a man of God. And whether they know it or not, they were used by God to mold and shape me into the man I am becoming…
I often wonder, underneath the clothes, within the life, behind the titles, who am I? I believe that I have been called to share this message of God’s love for the world and to me that’s the most fulfilling thing I could ever do. When it comes down to it, thats who I am, its who I want to be. I want to be a child of God… son to the creator of the world, the author of beauty, love, and peace. I lose track of that sometimes…
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and people all across our great land will celebrate by preparing too much food, eating until it hurts, and then laying down to take one of the best naps of the year while watching college football. And in one unison sigh they’ll groan, “Uhhhh…. I shouldn’t have eaten so much…” Stomaches across the nation will cry out as they are stretched beyond capacity with turkey and cranberries…
I’m exahusted. I haven’t really gotten any substantial amount of sleep in the last couple of days because of school work and such. Now in the small moments I have to actually rest, I find myself focusing on all of the things awaiting me on the other side of my pillow. Staying awake at this point almost seems like a form of procrastination… crazy how your mind works when you’re tired. Maybe its just me.
When you think about your life, where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what you’ve poured your heart into, do you feel like it was worth it?
Today after I got up, took a shower, brushed my teeth, shaved, put gel in my hair, and covered myself in body spray, I got my ipod and put on my new old navy jacket and headed out into the world. I just got paid and thought I’d head out and buy a couple of things I’ve been needing. The list included a case w/ an arm band for my ipod so I don’t have to hold it when I run, new running shoes since my old ones are well… old, and a pair of black business casual shoes to match my black outfits that I can wear on a regular basis. Here’s where I encounter my problem… I don’t run very much. I used to, and am hopeful about taking it up, but since I started “running again” I’ve run once in the last week. Maybe the problem is obvious to some. I don’t really run that much but am ready to shell out $30 for a case with an armband (so I don’t have to hold the .5 lb ipod) and $60+ for shoes that look nice when I already have a pair. Now on my little shopping trip today I thought about this and really tried to justify it, saying that it would be more incentive to run… okay I’ll buy that. However, the black shoes is really a problem. I just spent about a hundred dollars on a very nice pair of black shoes not but three weeks ago. The reason that I wanted another pair of black shoes is that I won’t wear out my other pair and will be able to have spiffy shoes all the time.
The other day I was reading this article and I really just wanted to share some of the things the author had to say. The article was about tapping into God’s power and said that most of the time we don’t have enough faith in ourselves. The author points out that most of the times when Jesus got frustrated with his disciples were when the disciples were giving up on themselves. For example when Peter is out walking on water, he begins to sink, not because he didn’t believe in Jesus, but because he didn’t believe in himself. I think we do this a lot, sell ourselves short. I know I do.
I just finished watching the movie August Rush and it was one of the most moving films I have ever scene. I wanted to take a second to write about how much it has to say about our walk and relationship with God, but I figured I would let the movie speak for itself… these some of the lines from the movie. they’re taken out of order, but I think it gets a point across…