Choose JOY

Romans 15

May God, the source of hope, fill you completely with joy and shalom as you continue trusting, so that by the power of the Ruach HaKodesh you may overflow with hope.
Romans 15:13

It’s been 4 weeks since I’ve cracked open my bible after the birth of our son. It’s hard to carve out that time in my schedule, which really isn’t much of a schedule right now as I am at the mercy of a hungry sleepy newborn who loves to be snuggled more than anything. Yet in this new season of changing diapers, nursing, spit-up, and sleepless nights, I have not felt entirely disconnected from the LORD. He has continued to sustain me and encourage me through His people, midnight devotions I find on my phone as I nurse and rock a newborn, worship songs, and through lots of prayer. And while I long to have that precious time back – and I know that might be a while – I love how the LORD has held me close in a season where it would be all too easy to drift away.

Like many people, for the last 3 years or so I have had a word for the year. Abide, Delight, and Holy have been the ones I have focused on in the past. I hadn’t really had time to put much effort or thought into that for this year until about a week or so ago when I was watching the Today Show. They had a celebrity on who was talking about her health and weightloss goals for the year. Her weight has fluctuated over the years and she said that this time she’s going to stick to her plan because she wants to have more joy in her life. As I thought about her words it made me realize how off the world’s view of joy is. To the world joy is dependent on circumstances and is something that can be attained if you just change certain things in your life. Whether it’s weight, location, possessions, job, getting married, or having children, the world tells us if you just focus on what you want and desire you will experience joy once you achieve it. Joy is an inner feeling based on outward circumstances. But God’s word would tell us the exact opposite. Joy, true lasting joy, is an inner state of being despite our outward circumstances. It is not based on how we feel, because often we will not feel like being joyful in hard times. I can’t remember where I found this quote, but I saved it on my phone: “[The Fruit] are not fading, fragile emotions produced by willpower…Fruit is the effortless, spontaneous expression of the character of the Tree.” Paul writes that joy is a Fruit of the Spirit which means it is an attribute of a person abiding in Christ. Jesus says in John 15, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” We cannot experience real joy if we are not abiding in Christ, no matter how good or put together our lives may be; if Christ is absent, so too will be joy, along with love, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

So as I thought about this biblical idea of joy, I realized that is exactly what I want my focus to be this year. Because in this new season of life there are going to be a LOT of days where I am going to feel anything but joyful, and yet, God’s word tells me that His joy is my strength and that it is not dependent on my circumstances, but completely available to me when I am dependent on Him.

And that’s why today, I just wanted to focus in on one of my favorite verses about joy, Romans 15:13. It is God Who fills me with joy as I trust, as I am dependent on Him. As I read the rest of chapter 15 for context, this verse took on even greater meaning for me:

“So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves. [Who is weaker than a newborn? One of my roles as a mother is to put my child’s needs before my own] Each of us should please his neighbor and act for his good, thus building him up. [In Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, we learn that really, everyone is our neighbor…this includes my husband, my daughter, and our newborn son. My actions and words should be for their good and for the purpose of building them up] For even the Messiah did not please himself; rather, as the Tanakh says, ‘The insults of those insulting you fell on me.’ For everything written in the past was written to teach us, so that with the encouragement of the Tanakh we might patiently hold on to our hope. [Jesus gave up all His privilege, position, comfort, and entitlement for the sake of those who could do nothing for Him. I can surely give up a little sleep, comfort, and selfish desires for the sake of my child(ren)] And may God, the source of encouragement and patience, give you the same attitude among yourselves as the Messiah Yeshua had, so that with one accord and with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. [Boy, do I need some encouragement and patience in this season – and it is God Who is the source. When I am dependent on Him I can imitate Christ’s attitude toward my family, which will bring glory to God – whether it’s dishes or diapers, folding laundry or snuggling a fussy baby, I can have Christ’s attitude and when I do God gets the glory – even if no one else sees it]

So welcome each other, just as the Messiah has welcomed you into God’s glory. For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the Jewish people in order to show God’s truthfulness by making good his promises to the Patriarchs, and in order to show his mercy by causing the Gentiles to glorify God [Everything Christ did was done as a servant, and in doing so He revealed the faithfulness of God and His mercy. When I serve my family I have the opportunity to be an instrument of His goodness and grace.]
…
I have always made it my ambition to proclaim the Good News where the Messiah was not yet known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation, but rather, as the Tanakh puts it,
“Those who have not been told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
[My children are blank slates, little sinners who need the Gospel just as much as I do. I get to build on a bare foundation, teaching them truth, demonstrating God’s grace, and pointing them to His goodness and love. These are eternal souls that God has stewarded to me and my husband, and while their salvation is not dependent on us, it is not a role to take lightly.]

I don’t know when I’ll get to have consistent quiet times again, getting up early and spending a good hour or so in the Word, but I can choose JOY. I can lean into the LORD in moments where I feel anything but joyful and allow His joy to be what sustains me in hard moments, in sleepless nights, in days where I’ve barely gotten a moment to myself as I give up all my “rights” and entitlements for my child. Because that’s what Jesus did for me and so, so much more! Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, whose “heart was focused on the JOY of knowing that [we] would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God!” (Hebrews 12:2 TPT) AMEN!!!