Day 12; Wondering about Joy

I keep wondering about joy.

What is it?
Is it the same things as happiness?

The Bible says it's a fruit of the Spirit, but the Bible also says that the word typically translated "blessed" in the Beatitudes can also be translated "happy." Happy=blessded. Is that right? Happiness is a response to a blessing?

But joy . . . joy is a related and yet different thing. Perhaps it's a deeper and more consistent thing, not dependent on circumstances. Happiness is like the froth on a wave, while joy is the deep current, running under the surface. Not necessarily showing itself at all times, but simply there. One of the deep things. Like that other fruit of the Spirit, peace. When you find someone for whom joy is a lived reality, hang out with that person. Maybe joy is catching!

But then you can't help but notice, there aren't many. Not many people with this routine, daily-life kind of joy, the undercurrent, never far from the surface. If joy is a fruit of the Spirit, why don't we see more of it in our church communities? Just wondering.

I mentioned this in an earlier post about the Gospel. There's a way of talking about the Gospel that makes a Christian appear to be a contrite-hearted criminal who has just had his fine paid. He's thankful, sure, but a little ashamed too. But I have this notion that if we're preaching the Gospel, to ourselves or to others, and it's not producing joy, we may be preaching a fragment of the Gospel, but maybe not the whole thing.

We have a lot of burdened people in our churches. Life as hard, and just about everybody has been through some kind of trauma or another. People are lonely, they have fears, even addiction issues. Then there's that demon, regret, which seems to grow stronger as we grow older. The world, death, the Devil, they all conspire to kill our joy before it's even had time to sprout. We begin to think joy is a dream that will only be fulfilled when the Kingdom comes.

But joy ought to be more familiar to us, I think. Yes, even in our hard times (and it seems most of our times are hard times). Mainly because it is the evidence of salvation to a world in need. Sure, we can't manufacture it or conjure it out of thin air. Joy has to be real, it has to be authentic. Which leads to the question, how do I get to that point? Or, why is joy so rare, so unfamiliar?

My hunch is that it has to do with the misunderstandings, some confusion, with regard to the Gospel. I'll speak more on this in a future post. In the meantime, look up joy in your handy concordance, why don't you. The Bible has a lot ot say about it!

This notion, that the Gospel and joy are intrinsically related, is something I'm going to look at more closely in future posts.