Real Joy

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 

-Philipians 4:4

We keep hearing this verse over and over again, and I keep wondering what is joy. I have this feeling that I always perceived joy in its "worldly and materialistic" sense. Another issue I've been ruminating this summer is the true meaning of the concept of joy and rejoicing.

A particular C.S. Lewis quote shook my conceptions on this subject matter. "My own idea, for what it is worth, is that all sadness which is NOT either arising from the repentance of a concrete sin and hastening towards concrete amendment or restitution, or else arising from pity and hastening to active assistance, is simply bad; and I think we all sin by needlessly DISOBEYING the apostolic injunction to 'rejoice' as much as by anything else."

And this brings me exactly to my point. Joy is not an emotion, not a feeling, and not even a reaction to daily circumstances that I face. Joy transcends any emotional state I am in. 

Joy is a response to the Truth I believe in. Joy is the fruit of my relationship with God. The result of my surrender to God who loves me unconditionally, who is here for me, who is in CONTROL. He saved me and redeemed me. He called me as His own.

God is God no matter what I am going through, no matter what my feelings. The truth is unchanging. The reason for my joy is unchanging so I don't see any valid reason for my joy to change, for my joy to fluctuate that much and for it to be that dependent on my mood.  

Does all of this undermine the effect of pain and sadness in life? I do not think so. God never promised us "la vie en rose". But that is what I am trying to say: that through the lowest points in my life, in the valley of the shadows of death, I should hold fast to the Truth. I should keep reminding myself that God is unchanging and that the war is already victorious! I have nothing to fear. And thus rejoice!

It's not an easy exercise but as Henry Drummond put it: "Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it everyday." It is a conscious decision to trust that He is in control and to surrender to His will even if I don't understand why.

I think I cannot wrap my head around it better than Kay Warren did when she said: 

"Joy is a settled assurance that God is in control of all of the details of my life, 

the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be okay and 

the determined choice to praise God in all things."

Amen amen amen!