Can I Have Joy in My Life? (Crucial Questions)

by R.C. Sproul

the Greek word used in the Beatitudes is best translated as blessed, as it communicates not only the idea of happiness but also profound peace, comfort, stability, and great joy.

it is the Christian’s duty, his moral obligation, to be joyful. That means that the failure of a Christian to be joyful is a sin, that unhappiness and a lack of joy are, in a certain way, manifestations of the flesh.

Jesus’ words could be translated as “Joyful are those who mourn.”

The heart of the New Testament concept is this: a person can have biblical joy even when he is mourning, suffering, or undergoing difficult circumstances.

The key to the Christian’s joy is its source, which is the Lord. If Christ is in me and I am in Him, that relationship is not a sometimes experience. The Christian is always in the Lord and the Lord is always in the Christian, and that is always a reason for joy. Even if the Christian cannot rejoice in his circumstances, if he finds himself passing through pain, sorrow, or grief, he still can rejoice in Christ. We rejoice in the Lord, and since He never leaves us or forsakes us, we can rejoice always.

our sanctification is displayed

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the Christian life is not to be marked by dourness or a miserable attitude. We all have bad days, but the basic characteristic of a Christian personality is joy. Christians should be the most joyous people in the world because we have so much to be joyous about. That is why Paul does not hesitate to command his readers to rejoice.

Paul gives one of the most practical of these teachings in Philippians: “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (4:8). This is a call to meditate upon the things of the Lord, to turn our attention to the things of God. When we find ourselves depressed, down, irritated, annoyed, or otherwise unhappy, we need to return to the source of our joy, and then we will see those circumstances that are sapping our joy in perspective. The circumstances of this life will pale into insignificance when compared to that which we have received from God.

if I never experienced another blessing in my entire life other than the blessings I already have received from the hand of God, I would have no possible reason to be anything but overflowing with joy until the day I die.

What is the great enemy of joy?

anxiety.

immediately after commanding the Philippians to rejoice always, Paul goes on to say: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all unders...

It is anxiety that robs us of our joy. And what is anxiety but

fear? Fear is the enemy of joy. It is hard to be joyful when we are

af...

The prohibition that Jesus gave more than any other in all of His tea...

We need to go to Him in prayer, to fellow...

we stay close to the source of our joy. We shed our anxieties, and the fruit of the Spirit ripens in us again. If we understand who Christ is and what He has ...

“count

reckoning, considering, or deeming.

even when we do not feel joyful about a trial we are enduring, we must count it—that is, consider it—as a matter of joy.

In other words, tribulation, pain, and suffering work patience within

us, so something good happens to us even in the midst of trials. By remembering that truth, as we pass through trials, as difficult as they may be to bear, we will understand that they are not an exercise in futility, but that God has a purpose in them, and His purpose is always good.

James is exhorting us to count it all joy even when it is not all joy,

because God can bring good through that pain and suffering.

He is working in even the difficult situations for ou...

in order to be able to count earthly sorrows and afflictions as matters of joy, we have to cultivate the ability to think in terms of the future.

The temporal moments of anguish and suffering that we go through are as nothing compared with the joy that has been laid up for us in heaven.

However, heaven is still future, and the present is often hard.

Paul’s counsel, as we go through those periods, is to remember that God has put a time limit on our pain, and that after that time we will enter a condition wherein pain will be no more.

I sometimes wonder, given how much I struggle with life as a Christian, how people who are not Christians make it.