Why is joy important?
- The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10)
- Joy is a sign of God’s presence (Psalm 16:11)
- Joy is the essence of life (Ecclesiastes 3:22; 5:19)
- Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:22)
- Joy is an attribute of God’s kingdom (Romans 14:17)
- Joy is a witness to unbelievers (1 Kings 10)
- Joy is a key to effectiveness in life and work
No doubt, joy is important. That’s why the enemy always tries to steal our joy away from us. What are some joy-robbers that you have experienced?
In the final analysis, joy is a choice (see Habakkuk 3:17-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; Philippians 4:4 and James 1:4-6). Joy is different from happiness. Happiness is based on what happens to us while true joy is based on our relationship with God and our belief that he is in control, regardless of our circumstances.
How is your joy level right now? What could you do to be more joyful as you go about your daily life and work today? What a difference joy makes!
I’ve been thinking about joy and happiness a lot the last week.
Your post is interesting to me in that I never considered that there may be a difference between joy and happiness.
About joy – the thing that brought me the most joy in everything I tried this week was to choose to be grateful, and humble. I think there is so much joy to be experienced in those two things.
And like you say – it’s a choice! It’s something that is there for the taking. What a good God we serve.