Joy, it's what makes the difference.

Joy. In this whole discussion of "does it matter how we Christians live" the word or idea of "joy" or "joyfulness" stands out as something we are supposed to have, to posess, intrinsic to our experience as Christians. It's probably the one thing I lack most. It's probably the one thing I desire most.


John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

These are the words of Jesus. So what does the word "joy" mean? Strong's defines joy in the Greek as: G5479
χαρά
chara
khar-ah'
From G5463; cheerfulness, that is, calm delight: - gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous).

Cheerfulness...calm delight...gladness...exceeding gladness. Wow! Here's my problem. The stock market goes up, I'm exceedingly glad. The stock market goes down, I'm exceedingly unhappy. My children are well behaved and exhibit joy themselves, I'm joyful too. They fight and fuss, I'm upset and angry. My wife...well better not go there, but I trust you get the picture. What I'm saying is that my happiness is most often dependent on my circumstances, the weather, my satisfaction with my job, my income and the list goes on and on.

Jesus says, "No, that's not how it works." I give you my joy as part of your trust and belief in me. Let me quote from Mark Buchannan's book, Your God is too Safe again. "...true celebration is deciding purposefully to rejoice and making every effort to do so. Celebration is the practice of lifting our eyes from our preoccupation with all the work we have to do and the trouble we're in and the money we owe and the reputation we strive to keep - to lift our eyes from all that and set them on things above. It's training ourselves, in the midst of and in spite of all that might be amiss, to see heaven:..."

I love that last sentence. "Training ourselves, in the midst of and in spite of all that might be amiss, to see heaven." I think that is what I was trying to express in my last post. I couldn't quite find the words to express what I was feeling. How do you describe what might be more real than the reality we are in. How do you describe what it is we might be missing because we are focused myopically on the reality of this world? We need to train ourselves to see heaven. We need to be farsighted. That is, looking beyond the reality of this world, the reality of our circumstances, to what is even more real.

Sadly, so many of us, myself included, who profess to know Christ lack this joy. There are moments, even days were I have joy, but at some point something will come along and take that from me. Joy is not happiness. It is not denying the things that make us sad, the death of a loved one is a sad event, the loss of your job is not something to rejoice in...usually. Christian joy is this; training ourselves to see heaven. It's what makes us different.

The Honest Christian

What if.....

I recently watched a YouTube video about a man who died, but was given a second chance. There are many instances of this happening to people out there. I'm not here to debate the "doctrinal" possibilities of this happening. There are many who will scoff at this or use the Bible to disprove it. And that's okay. A lot of people didn't believe that Lazarus had died and been restored to life either. I don't know if what this man tells about really happened. He believes it did and it's his story...not mine. However, he said something that really got me thinking, especially as I had already been thinking along these lines.

He said this (more or less). "The spiritual world is far more real than this world." So here's my what if. What if this life isn't the one that's real?  What I mean is this. What if all the things we concentrate our energy on; work, careers, houses, cars, entertainment, money...all the things we see as vital to our success and happiness aren't the things that are real, that are going to matter to us for more than the few years we will spend here on earth. Instead, what if the things that matter, that are real are only the things we do that will carry over to the next life. What if the spiritual world really is far more real than this world?

We spend endless amounts of energy on the things I mention above. Maybe the right question to ask is, "What are the things that will carry into eternity?" I don't have a black and white answer for you. Many people would say the time you spend at church, helping others, praying are the things that count. There may be truth in that, but somehow I think it goes deeper than that. I'm not quite sure how to express it in words, but I can sense it in my spirit.

Each day that goes by intensifies my believe that this life is not the real life. That most of the things we focus our energy on are only distractions to what is real. They're not intrinsically evil, some are even necessary. It's more about the focus, the place of importance we assign them. The real life is spiritual, eternal. My understanding of scripture is that what we do with this life really does have an impact on the next life. Not just where we will spend it (heaven or hell), but we will be doing for all eternity. Maybe by focusing in this life on the things that matter in the next life, maybe it really is preparation for our eternal careers.

Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone

Scripture tell us that. "...man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God". (Mat. 4:4) With that I must agree, especially as it comes from the mouth of Jesus. The thing I've been thinking about is this. How and by whom are we to be fed spiritually?

In my last post I was honest with you. I haven't been in church much lately. Some Christians have asked me this question when they learn this, "If you're not going to church, how are you being fed?" I usually respond with my own question, "If you saw someone feeding a twenty year old man, what would you think?" My guess is that you would assume that he (the one being fed) was mentally challenged or perhaps had some neuromuscular desease like MS. But, what if there was not one thing wrong with this man other than he had never been taught to feed himself or was perhaps just to lazy. If you were the type of person who spoke his or her mind I expect you would castigate him in no uncertain terms. You might even have a few choice words for the one doing the feeding. Surely you would not see this as normal behavior!

And yet there are an untold number of Believers whose only "feeding" is when they go to church on Sundays and are spoon fed by the pastor. And this is the accepted norm. There are a fewer number who each morning turn to their favorite devotional writer to be fed. And finally there are those, fewer yet, who pick up the Word and feed themselves, wrestling with scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to do as he promised. (John 16:13)

Now, before you call me names like "heretic" or "troublemaker" or close this blog in disgust, allow me to clarify. The intent of this post is not to down play the importance of preaching or to negate the writings of men and women far more spiritual and learned than I. Both have their place and I am grateful for both. As a matter of fact,  in my blog Doing Life Different, I write of how much some of the great men of our time have impacted my life.  It is instead to challenge you, Believer, towards maturity. Learn to feed yourself. It was right and proper when you were "newborn" in the Kingdom to be fed by someone, but now put away childish things and feed yourself. Then when you have become mature you can teach others to feed themselves. It's called discipleship.

It is also a challenge to pastors. Close the laptop, open the Word. Stop getting your messages from E-Sermon and start getting them from the Spirit. If you are guilty of plagiarizing someone else's thoughts, writings or sermons in your messages, fess up and confess. Be willing to humble yourself and acknowledge that rare person who actually spent the time necessary, on his knees and in the Word, to receive the message. (Here's a great link on this subject.)

So here's the question, "Are we a nation of physical gluttons, but spiritual anorexics?"