You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” Hebrews 1:19
In this verse, the writer of the Book of Hebrews (Paul?) tells us some things about God, the Son: He loves righteousness, hates wickedness, and is anointed with the oil of gladness. This is not the only thing the writer tells us about Jesus in Hebrews, but the phrase about joy is interesting to ponder. Jesus was so full of joy that the joy of anyone else paled in comparison. We could say He was intoxicated with joy.
In a world that is so broken, an abundantly joyful person is a rare find. But I’m guessing we’ve all known at least a few people who have this quality. Their faces kind of glow. They exude a warmth of joyfulness that makes them a joy to be around. Their joyful demeanor makes conversation with them easy. Being in their presence has a refreshing quality. Their joy is contagious and at least a measure of it seeps into us.
The joy I’m talking about isn’t merely a happy-go-lucky attitude, and it’s not overly exuberant happiness devoid of sensitivity, listening, and allowing others to speak. We’ve all met hyper happy people who are about as refreshing as a gust of wind that blows sand in your face. That’s not what we’re talking about. The joy that comes from God is humble, considerate, and entwined with love.
Portraits of Jesus
I think I've seen most of the films made about Jesus. Usually, He is portrayed as serious, somber, and sorrowful. He seems intimidating and unapproachable. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the Jesus movies. They get so many things right. The latest addition to the collection of Jesus movies is The Chosen. In my opinion, it is the closest any film has come to capturing the humble, approachable, joyful quality of Jesus. It might be the first Jesus movie to show that Jesus had a sense of humor. The Passion of the Christ did this a little, like when Jesus splashed water on his mom to be playful.
All Jesus movies, however, are only weak efforts to capture the fullness of who Christ was. He was dynamic. Scripture says He was both a man of sorrows and overflowing with joy. One thing you can’t help to notice as you read through the gospels is that people—even the very worst of sinners—wanted to be around Him. He is shown eating and drinking with people society deemed as outcasts and immoral. I’m not merely talking about people coming to hear His teaching or to be healed. No, Jesus is seen lounging with people. Even the kids flocked to Him. He was like a tree of joy that all kinds of people sat under to be refreshed.
Engines
What does all this have to do with mission? Even if you don’t know much about engines you probably know that oil is essential. If an engine is low on oil, it begins to struggle to function. If the oil is old and dirty, it could cause serious problems. If the oil runs out, well, the engine seizes (I’ve done this to more than one lawnmower). Good quality clean oil is necessary for engines to function smoothly.
In the same way, the oil of joy makes the engine of mission operate smoothly. I confess that I can be painfully introverted and have a natural bend toward melancholy. In other words, it’s very easy for me to be withdrawn. It seems to be the default setting I was born with. So, I have to constantly fight against this. I’ve noticed that when I let myself shut down and go inward when I’m with people, it’s very difficult to spark any kind of spiritual conversation. It just doesn’t work. My deflated demeanor makes it almost impossible to naturally share the message of Jesus. But when I’m full of joy, sharing my faith is easy. Conversation, in general, is easy. When joy is flowing I am like a hundred times more likely to engage someone with spiritual things.
Where can we get joy?
If this is true, then we need joy, right? You may be blessed with a natural winsome, joyful temperament. Some people are literally born with unusual amounts of natural joy. You can see it even in babies. Some babies and toddlers are pretty cranky. Some have an uptight temperament. But certain ones are what we call “happy babies.” If you were born this way my dear brother or sister, you should thank God daily. It’s a blessing. For the rest of us, we have to fight constantly against depression, pessimism, ingratitude, negativity, and so on. The pull toward all this is like gravity. How can we find overflowing joy?
The common mistake we make in our pursuit of happiness and joy is that we look in all the wrong places. We tend to think we will feel joyful once our circumstances change. You know, once we get a different job, once we move to our dream city, once we are married, once we get out of debt, once we have kids, once we physically recover, once we attain whatever. Most of us are constantly looking forward to something that we hope will be “just the thing” to complete our joy. It’s not bad to look forward to things, but we fail to enjoy the present moment we are in.
Well of joy
The joy that comes from God transcends circumstances. It’s not dependent on things going well. It’s anchored in something much deeper: eternal realities.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
There is a well of joy that is accessible to us 24-7. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from God. In His presence there is fullness of joy! The Lord does not have limited supplies of joy. He is not stingy in giving joy. It’s there in abundance for the taking. But we must take it!
Looking
Joy isn’t dumped upon us when we aren’t looking. It’s something that’s cultivated through prayer, contemplation, reading the Word, worship, and other spiritual disciplines. It is a conscious daily habit to not focus on negative things but on eternal things. As the verse above says—“we look not to the things that are seen but to the things unseen.” What does that mean?
To look refers to what we are focusing on. It’s what we choose to think about. It’s easy for us to wake up each day and just let our thoughts take us wherever they want to go. Our thoughts fly around like a pinball shot in various directions by external circumstances, interior impulses, and how we feel in the moment. If we just let our thoughts go wherever they want to go, we will quickly find ourselves in dark places.
We need to guide our thoughts. We need to choose to think on whatsoever is good, noble, trustworthy, and true. We need to fix our thoughts on Jesus. And set our minds on things above. There’s an effort to this. The psalmists would often say things like, “I will give you praise.” It’s an act of the will to set our minds on Christ and revel in all He is and all He’s done. It’s an act of the will to focus on eternal glory. It’s an act of the will to turn away from focusing on afflictions and gaze upon the Glorious One.
In His presence
Sometimes we think of prayer and Bible reading as spiritual chores. We don’t like doing them, and because we don’t like doing them, we often don’t do them. We struggle to even see why we need to do them. We’ve already read the Bible and heard a million sermons. If we really need something then we’ll pray. But why do all effective missionaries talk so much about the importance of spending quality time with God? It is because the oil of joy is found in God’s presence. It doesn’t come any other way. And that joy is what causes a missionary’s efforts to engage people with the gospel to be fruitful.
Spend time contemplating eternal things. Ask God for a fresh baptism of joy. Let afflictions remind you of the city whose designer and builder is God. Let weaknesses and unpleasant circumstances remind you that this world is not your home. Set your focus on who God is, what He has done, and what He is building. Revel in your acceptance and assurance. Rejoice that He has invited us to partner with Him in the renewal of all things. Be filled with joy. Stare at God’s face and His joy will reflect upon you.
Yes, there are thousands upon thousands of terrible, unfortunate, painful, evil, vexing things we could focus on. But all of that is passing away. It’ll be rolled up like a garment and put away forever. The day is coming when there will be no more pain, no more death, no more sorrow, no more afflictions, no more loss, no more sickness, no more war, no more hatred, no more bad days. The present afflictions of this sin-sick world are temporary. They are momentary afflictions, unpleasant blips, in light of eternity.
Rejoice !!!