BY: KAY DILLS
We all want to be happy. We spend our entire lives searching for happiness. Happiness is defined as “a feeling or showing pleasure or contentment.” We look for happiness in material things. We want the “Good Life”. You know the “Good Life’: Living in the biggest house, sending our children to the best schools, driving the best car and staying one step ahead of the “Jones”. Janis Joplin sang about the “Good Life”.
Oh, Lord want you buy me a Mercedes Benz.
My friends all drive Porsches,
I must make amends.
Worked all my lifetime,
No help from my friends.
So, oh Lord won’t you but me a Mercedes Benz.
Happiness based on materialism can be gained, at least for a short time, but it doesn’t last. What does last is JOY. Joy is a simple word with a lot of impact. Joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. You can have happiness short time without joy, but you can’t have joy without happiness. Why? Because joy is not gained, but given by Jesus. It comes from deep within us. You see, JOY is:
Jesus Others Yourself
Jesus is the emphasis for true joy. He is the very source of joy.
John 15:11
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full.
In the very next verse John tells us how to find joy.
John 15:12
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
We gain joy by bringing joy to others. When you put others before yourself you will have joy and happiness, which comes from within. Lately I have experienced the love of others and I was overjoyed. To hear someone you least expect walk up to you and say: I love you and know that it is the love of God shining through them, that is JOY. To know that something you say in passing is picked up on by another person and acted on is JOY! I mentioned that I love Lifesavers in a rolled pack and they are becoming harder to find. Today I received three packs from someone who took the time to think of me: That is JOY!
Do you ever stop to think when you reach for a mint in church who put those here? It was someone who was thinking about others. Let us not forget what Jesus did for us. Let us always put Him first. If we do, Others will always come next and You will know true JOY!