JOY IS A CHOICE!

Luke 6:20-23 – Devotional

Luke 6:20-23

“Looking at His disciples, He said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you, when men exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.’ “

From time to time I meet and greet a friend. After the initial hello, I often ask, “How are you doing?” The response from some is, “Pretty good under the circumstances!” To which I am prone to reply, “What are you doing under there?”

I am sure that you have heard that old cliché many times. I have used it enough that it almost feels like my own, but it was used by someone long ago, by someone more clever than I.

The sad reality is that we are all too often controlled by our circumstances. When that is the case, we leave little room for the Lord to bring joy and delight into our life. You heard me right: I said that the Lord wants to bring joy and delight into our life.

We often behave as if we were judges at an Olympic contest. We hold a stack of cards from 0 to 10 on our lap. When something happens in our life, we watch, wonder, waiver, wait and finally hold up a score to judge if something is good or bad, and to what degree. If it is good we have joy; if it is bad we are sad.

Such actions on our parts have the effect of allowing the “things of life” to control our joy. It is very much like the old comedy line about being under the circumstances. We have the mistaken notion that joy is the result of good things coming into our lives. That is not what we find in this and many other scriptures. Yes, we do rejoice when the blessings of the Lord are poured out upon our life, but we can also have joy and rejoice even when things go wrong.

That is exactly what Jesus is teaching here in the Sermon on the Mount. We are to be joyful even when we are called upon to suffer for the sake of Christ. That is true even when it seems as if the whole world is against us. If we succumb to the urge to have a pity party, we will violate the commands of our Lord, and also will miss His blessing. The result will be bitterness and despair with no joy.

Unbelievers know when we are under fire for our spiritual convictions. They will not be impressed or drawn to faith in Christ by our laments about how much we are enduring. No! The thing that will impress them will be the shouts of victory and joy, that we have been counted worthy to go through times of suffering and abuse with victory!

To find this joy, I think it is important for each of us to set a regular time to study the biblical aspect of joy. Please go into the concordance in the back of your study Bible, and make a list of all of the references to the word “joy.” Knowing more about joy will not make us joyful. It is our obedience to the Lord that makes the joy a reality. Since Jesus says we are to find joy when we are being persecuted for righteousness, that becomes our reason for joy.

I want to leave you today with a challenge. Pray and ask the Lord to give you the strength to proclaim joy in the face of opposition, and see what happens. I can tell you right now, that you will feel peace and contentment, even in the midst of your storm. You will find your joy!

Blessings dear hearts. Walk with God today, trust Him completely, and be a blessing.

– – – Pastor Cecil

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