4 surprising sources of joy
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"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice & be glad in it." (Ps 118:24) Biblical #leadership is visionary & joyful.
What gives you joy in life? Chances are you know yourself pretty well and you do things that make you happy—whether vacations, daily rituals, hobbies, enjoyable work, serving, reading or time with friends.
I'm sure you've experienced some hard things that brought even greater joy. Ever gone through a trial, a work challenge, a tough game, a project or a final exam that stretched you to your limits? How did you feel when you emerged victorious?
There's a special joy on the other side of hardship (which is what heaven is all about!) We crave this joy in a spiritual sense. Jesus is our example:
For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
If Jesus willingly endured the equivalent of the electric chair because of the joy he knew waited on the other side, surely we can do the difficult things he's asking us to do!
To help us out, God provides several ways to get to his deep joy without leaving this life.
Faith leads to joy.When we contemplate our faith and salvation, joy finds us:
The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household (Acts 16:34).
Fear of the Lord leads to joy.The right kind of fear is rooted in our love for the Lord. Because he is all-powerful, we never know what he's going to do, yet we are entirely sure of his love for us.
Imagine being among those who first saw the resurrected Christ:
The first people to see Jesus alive were "afraid yet filled with joy." (Mt 28:8) This is what God-fearing leadership looks like too!
Purposeful work leads to joy. We all search for fulfilling work throughout our lives, even after we reach retirement. We need purpose in life, and when we find work we love, we find a great blessing from above.
"You are to rejoice before the Lord your God in everything you put your hand to." (Deut. 12:18b) Work is worship!
Challenges lead to joy. In 2 Corinthians 8:2, Paul commends the churches in Macedonia: "In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity."
For these churches, trials, joy and poverty led to overflowing generosity. How is that even possible? Perhaps they knew that without God's provision, they wouldn't be able to help themselves, let alone support missionaries.
Even when joy is doused by troubles, it perseveres. It morphed into generosity for the Macedonian churches.
With faith, fear of the Lord, meaningful work, and giving beyond our means, we can renew our joy.
Excerpted from Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership, by Tom Harper (DeepWater Books, 2019). Also available in Spanish and Amharic.
 | Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More » |
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