The Fruit Of...Joy

Think about this question for just a few moments...

What in your life brings you true joy?

Alright, do you have your answer? It could have been anything or, hopefully it was many things. I know I have a much bigger list of things that I enjoy in my life than things I don't. Some of mine are my wife, my kids, my parents, my horses, my Bible, my Xbox!

We can find joy in a great number of things in this life. They can be things that excite or things that relax us. They can be, and often are, material possessions. I bet most of would have at least one person on that list too. So before I talk about joy as something that is produced by us walking with the Holy Spirit, I just want to publicly thank God for all of the things in my life that are joyful. I feel amazingly blessed and its all because of Him!

Now, while I don't believe that the Spirit is directly responsible for everything in our lives that gives us joy, I do believe very strongly that the things in our lives that give us joy are better and likely slightly different when life is filled with the Spirit. It can almost be like puppy love. You remember your first love? Every song on the radio was about your love. The birds sang songs to you when you walked together holding hands. Your world centered on each other. You never needed more than one straw in your milkshake. You get the idea...

Spiritual joy is a lot like that, I think, because deep down we know that we've been redeemed by Jesus' sacrifice. We know that gift includes a Counselor that becomes part of us and that we get to meet Jesus in Heaven one day. We've been set free and you can't help but get joy from that.

Don't get me wrong. I don't walk around like Enzyte Bob with a goofy smile on my face all of the time. Joy isn't always an outward display. But I can tell you from experience that its in the times when I feel the least joy that I need to focus on God and listen to the Spirit the most. So if you've accepted Christ in your heart and voiced it with your mouth, but you just aren't feeling the joy...what are you to do? The answer is simple. You need to rely more heavily on God. Chances are, there are areas of life where you haven't made God first...not truly. I speak from experience here. Look at your life and see where you have an opportunity to focus more intently on God and then step into action!