John 15:9-11
"9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."
So many believers today make the mistake of thinking of joy as a synonym for happiness. They read the above scripture and believe that it means that if we remain in God's commands, that we will have happiness. That somehow, God owes us good things in life. We turn God into a cosmic vending machine. I put in a good deed or two here or there and God dispenses happiness and a good life for me.
There's just one small problem with that... nowhere in His word does God promise us happiness, and in fact, Christ warns us expressly that following Him costs us everything, which would include our happiness. After all, to use His words, "a servant is not greater than his master," and "as they have done to Me, so will they do to you." I am not sure just how thoroughly you have followed the life of Christ, but an easy and comfortable life it was not, let alone His death.
So what then does He mean when he talks about your joy being full? How can we have joy if we are not happy? Well for that, we have to understand the original word.
The word used here in Greek is, "χαρά," which is pronounced ć-har-ah' with a very hard c sound at the front, almost like a k, but with slightly less strike since the h sound softens it.
This word comes from the word χαρ or ć-har which means to be favorably disposed, to lean toward, or to grant favor to (someone or something). So what is being said is not that we will have happiness, but rather that if we abide in Christ, and He abides in us, and we all abide in the Father, then our leaning toward will be full, and His leaning toward us will make it so.
This is a scripture that speaks to the indwelling of the Spirit of God within us, not that God will give us happiness. It shows that God is ever present with us, even in our struggles, and that as Paul says, "we can do (endure) all things through Christ who strengthens us."
We keep God's commands so that He will continue to be at the forefront of our hearts and minds, and in so doing, we see and become aware of His favor toward us as we recognize all things as being blessings from Him, even trials and struggles which are allowed in order to grow us and to strengthen us.
When we seek after God in order to find happiness, we cannot help but walk away disappointed the first time we become unhappy.
When we seek after God in order to have the peace that comes through His joy, or χαρά, we find contentment and satisfaction by knowing that nothing that happens to us is for evil purposes. We only have to seek His will in what we face.
That peace, that joy, that χαρά, is priceless. Because while unhappiness will come, having the tools to deal with it makes all the difference.
Blessings!
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