It seems illogical, but only self can truly kill joy. The natural instinct towards hedonism and the encouragement of the world to live for self, to get what you can for yourself out of live, that our own comfort and pleasure must come first or we will be unable to be of any use to others, and many other such ideas drive us to look out for number one, ourselves. Then we wonder why it's never enough. There's never enough pleasure, never enough comfort, never enough distraction to eliminate the emptiness and misery of life. But Jesus showed a different way, a better way, and Jesus knows all about joy, the joy that makes life worth living.
But wait, Jesus was a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief! Yes, that's very true. But His sorrow and grief were birthed from compassion for us. He was also filled with joy. The children flocked to Him because of this. It is His joy, the Lord's joy, that is our strength. It was for the joy of relationship that He endured the sorrow, grief and pain of the cross. And in His presence is fullness of, or the state of complete joy. You can't be full of joy from being in someone's presence unless they are overflowing with joy. Jesus is filled with joy.
Yet, not one moment did Jesus live for self or look out for number one. He lived a life in submission to the Father and in service, care and love for others, to the point of His own death. It's the opposite of our natural instincts. It is counter cultural to the extreme. This is the time of year that many spend time focusing on the sufferings and sorrows of our Lord, and there is no doubt that He had them, especially in the days leading up to and including His crucifixion. His time in the Garden of Gethsemane is a prime example.
Well, that didn't look too fun or joyful! He was in agony! He was so stressed that He burst blood vessels and sweated drops of blood! I'll pass. Me too. I don't want that kind of suffering, pain and stress. But the truth is that you and I can not pass on it. Hard times come. Suffering is a part of life because the world is broken and filled with broken, hurting, angry and fearful people. We are going to have times of distress.
There will be times when we can not bear the weight of what we are going through or facing, when we are overwhelmed, when depression and misery threaten to swallow us up like quicksand. But, also counter instinct, the trick to surviving quicksand is not to struggle and fight but to relax.. The more we fight the distress and circumstances that are too much for us, the more we sink in the truth that we can not change it, escape it or overcome it. And when we are miserable, we are self focused. It's all about self, what we are feeling, facing and afraid of.
But when we can relax and quit fighting for our lives, quit fighting to save our self, and turn our attention and focus outside ourselves we can find escape. In the moment of Jesus' greatest fear before the cross, He turned His attention and focus to the love and will of Daddy. He kept in mind how what He was going through and enduring could do to bring glory to God and help others. His love for others and the joy of helping them, us, have relationship with Daddy filled Him with joy at what His suffering could and would accomplish. And strengthened by that joy, He rose from His despair and not only endured but embraced the suffering of the cross.
Being filed with joy does not mean that everything will go our way or that we will not suffer. But when we submit to the will of God, the Holy Spirit can help us use our suffering, as Jesus did, to bring glory to God and to draw others into relationship with Him. And that can fill us with such joy that we can endure and embrace the hard times as well as the comfortable.
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