Joy cannot be found outside of ourselves. It can only be found when we are following the way of Christ and are present in the moment.
You often hear people talk about joy and how it is different that happiness. And I believe this is true. Happiness is dependent on outside forces. Things we cannot control. But joy is a deep inner peace.
How many times have you heard a sermon or message in church on joy? Having grown up in church I’ve lost count. But of all those sermons and messages on joy I can only remember it being said to abide in Jesus. But what does that really mean?
I was told it meant to do certain things: Read your bible more. Pray more. Be more involved at church. Give to the church more.
Supposedly doing these things more would bring you “MORE” joy. I’m not saying any of these things are bad. I’m not saying that at all.
But what do you do when you’ve done all those things “MORE” and you don’t feel joy?
Personally, I’ve found there was one key piece missing in how I was taught to “abide in Jesus.”
When I learned to walk in the way of Christ that Jesus lived, something shifted.
If we pare all the rules of religion down to simply the way that Christ taught, we see that he lived truly in the present moment almost all the time. He loved, but didn’t condemn. He didn’t base others worth on what they did or didn’t do. Jesus knew how to just simply be and be present in the moment right in front of him.
Look at the verses about the flowers of the field and birds of the air in Matthew 6:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Think back to the times where you truly felt and peace and a deep sense of joy. Were you worrying about the future? Were you replaying something from the past that caused you shame or stress? No. Most likely in those moments of deep joy you were present in that very moment.
Think back to the times where you truly felt and peace and a deep sense of joy. Were you worrying about the future? Were you replaying something from the past that caused you shame or stress? No. Most likely in those moments of deep joy you were present in that very moment.
I believe we don’t experience deep joy because we don’t live in the now as Eckhart Tolle calls it. When we learn to be present without wishing it were any different than it is, that is when we experience deep joy. Wishing the moment were different than what it is is being resistant to what is. Yes, this can be hard to do when the moment is painful or frustrating or something we consider bad. But it is what it is and by resisting it we get stuck and use our valuable energy on wishing it were something other than it is.
When we have moments that are so enjoyable and experiences we consider great, we have a tendency to cling to those moments instead of letting them flow through us as Michael Singer puts it in Living Untethered. Clinging to these moments can keep us from experiencing the moment and experiences right in front of us. We can be so focused on wishing what we are experiencing was as good as that other experience we are clinging to that we are blinded to the goodness right in front of us.
Resisting and clinging both keep us from experiencing true joy.
