The young Navy pilot told me, "I want to share something with you. I was transferred to an air station in a remote area. I had never experienced such a setting, and I became depressed. Then I listened to your podcast on joy, and that changed my whole attitude."
Then I scrambled to remember what I had said. I'll repeat some of it today as I continue this summer series on the Fruits of the Spirit and how each fruit supports the essential fruit of love.
First, we need to define joy. Joy is not happiness, is not enthusiasm, does not alter with circumstance. To paraphrase Season Bowers, recent Practical Faith Academy podcast guest and author of "The Joy Bringer Challenge," joy is the presence of the loving, powerful, sacrificial God in our lives. This echoes the main thought of that years-ago podcast the pilot heard: joy is the presence of God.
The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible goes one step further, saying "Living with the presence of God in one’s life is a continuous experience of joy." Continuous means never-ending, never-changing, eternal. Joy is the constant realization of our eternal relationship with God.
Paradoxically, joy is more focused on the present than the eternal. We arrive at joy when we realize that we are saved eternally while experiencing the intersection of the eternal with the present. Jesus promised us the Holy Spirit as our persistent guide. If we knew Jesus were physically with us, we would certainly feel joy. But we do have Jesus, in the form of the Holy Spirit. So our goal is to reach inside ourselves to sense and develop that relationship with the Holy Spirit.
The result of realizing that the Spirit is always with us is joy, that buoyant sense of well-being. Joy is a fruit clearly developed by mystically living in the Holy Spirit's presence in this moment and in every circumstance.
THE LOVE CONNECTION: Because joy has a long-run, eternal perspective that sees beyond circumstance, it is love's essential partner. Love cannot be about feelings. Instead, we base our love on the love and joy we receive from the Spirit, so that our love for neighbor can withstand the inevitable ups and downs of relationship.
The Practical Faith Academy podcast can be found on all major podcasting platforms. Also, you can launch it by clicking on the Practical Faith Academy icon on the Cecil Taylor Ministries website home page.
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