Enjoying the Christian life depends on our focus
I once went to my father and said, “ I’m not happy, Dad.” He patiently sat down with me in his study and listened to my woes. After a nice chat, he sent me on my way, feeling much better than when we started. The next day, I was back with the pronouncement “Dad, it didn’t work, I’m still not happy.” He listened again and, once more, I left feeling the better for the conversation. We continued this process for several days, and then he wisely looked at me and said, “Scott, the happiest people in the world never think about whether or not they are happy.”
My father helped me to see that the core of my struggle was my focus. It was my selfishness that was spoiling my joy. I have noticed this to be true many times in my life. Self-focus creeps in and robs me of joy. There have been many times when I have had to be judged by the Word and then confess a sinful focus! A godly woman in my life once sent me a quotation: “Occupation with self brings distress; occupation with others brings discouragement; occupation with Christ brings delight!” It was a loving and helpful rebuke. I wonder if perhaps there are those of you who have been robbed of joy by a focus that falls short of “setting your mind on things above.” If so, call it what it is, confess it, and be restored to the joy of a focus on Him!
The Lord wants gladness for His people. Psalm 4:7 says, “you have put gladness in my heart.” C. S. Lewis puts it this way: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”1 The Lord wants far more for us than what we have come to enjoy so far. So what has the Lord given us that our joy may be full?
His presence
“in Your presence is fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11)
I recently read a statistic that was a bit shocking. A survey of evangelical Christians showed that less than 25% of them reported to read the Word daily! No wonder we lack the joy of an overflowing heart if we are not spending time in His presence! He is life! He is overwhelmingly good!
I have a friend whose mother spends an hour a day in her husband’s study, alone with the Lord. This has been her habit for many years. Some time ago, she let the busyness of life crowd this away and the dryness she noticed in herself quickly convinced her that she had chosen poorly. She went back to her time with the Lord and to a heart that was filled with Him! Are you spending time with Him or are you missing out on the day-to-day enjoyment of the best that life has to offer? In other words, are you making mud pies or enjoying a holiday at the sea?
Abiding in Christ
“that your joy may be full.” (Jn. 15:11)
After teaching His disciples that they should abide in His love, the Lord Jesus states that the result will be full joy! I am sometimes surprised by answers I receive when I ask young Christians if they are abiding in Christ. They usually tell me how much they have been reading their Bibles. The thought in John 15 seems to be much more than that. The emphasis is abiding through obedience. His followers had his commandments. If they chose to abide in those commandments, then they should expect a joyful heart. The Lord Jesus is teaching that a lifestyle of communion with Him will result in a heart that is overflowing with joy!
Does your experience show this to be the case? The most joyful people I know are the ones who consistently commune with their Saviour. What a challenge for those of us who recognize a lack in our walk with Him! I want to have a great marriage where I consistently enjoy my wife and she me. I don’t want to just enjoy her quarterly or yearly on a family vacation. I abide with her and thank the Lord for such a wonderful gift! Is this how you think about the Lord Jesus? Is this how you are ordering your life for Him? How is your joy? If there is a lack, perhaps abiding is the answer!
Answered prayer
“ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (Jn.?16:24)
Prayer is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian life. To ask of God and see His hand at work in our lives is consistently one of the greatest joys that I know! The Lord has given us free and constant access to His presence. Do you need more grace? Go and get it! A throne of grace awaits you.
Do you see the hand of God move in your life as a result of prayer? I am saddened to say that my observation is that many Christians do not. The Lord desires us to ask according to His name so that He can answer and we will rejoice at the reminder of His loving and watchful eye.
There are reasons when a Christian’s prayers are not answered. If a husband does not treat his wife correctly, if we ask selfishly that we may consume it on our own lusts, if we are walking distantly from the Lord, then we should not expect that our prayers will be answered nor that our joy will be full.
I know a brother who has given the best years of his life to serve the Lord in a foreign country. His prayer over the course of that time has been for the Lord to reach every tribe in the jungle of that nation with the gospel in his lifetime. When we were speaking with him, a woman from the final unreached tribe had come out of the jungle because she was very sick. The missionaries were praying that this would be the open door that they had sought. I wish you could have been there to see their faces—full joy!
We were recently on a college campus to share the good news with students and it was supposed to rain all day. We prayed, asking the Lord to make it possible for us to share His truth, and decided we would do whatever we could, as long as we could. We were out there all day sharing the good news and never got wet. Again, I wish you could have been there to see the joy on all the faces when we learned that it had poured around the campus all day but the Lord held off the rain for us! It was not an effort to give thanks and praise to our great God! Our hearts were full of joy!
Having a healthy, biblical prayer life and seeing His answers leads to a joyful heart.
Fellowship of saints
“greatly desiring to see you…that I may be filled with joy” (2 Tim. 1:4)
The Lord has given us a wonderful blessing in the family of God. Getting together with saints is to be a time that fills our hearts with joy. Do you look forward to getting together with the saints, or is it a chore for you? According to 1 John, this is a good test of how we are doing spiritually. Are you loving the saints, investing in the saints, seeing the Lord work in the saints, and, as a result, having a full heart of joy when you see and speak with them? Thank the Lord that when the Lord looks upon us and thinks of us, He rejoices over us with great joy!
Dear reader, is your heart filled with an abiding joy? Are you a blessing to others because of this? Let us press on through His presence, abiding in Christ, answered prayer, and fellowship to honor Him with a heart full of joy!
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy” (Rom. 15:13)!
Endnote
1 Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002).