The Difference Between Happiness and Joy

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."

I’ve been thinking about that hymn lately and am not quite sure about that little ditty of a chorus. The other words to the hymn are great though. OK, I trust in God. I obey His Word. I’m enfolded in Jesus’ love. But “happy” in Jesus? Not always.

There are 658,000 responses on Google about the Biblical difference between happiness and joy. I didn’t read all of them but the answer seems to be … Happiness is instigated by an external source and Joy is instigated by an internal source. Happy/ about 30 times in the Bible. Joy/ over 300 times in the Bible. It seems that God would rather us seek joy than depend on happiness to just show up.

 A testimony at a Dwight L. Moody evangelistic meeting was the impetus for the song. The story goes that a young man who had just been converted stood and said, “I’m not quite sure. But I’m going to trust and I’m going to obey.” John Sammis took those words as an inspiration for the song.

When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we'll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

It seems to me that this song is more about Joyful in Jesus than Happy in Jesus. But I wasn’t around in 1887 to give my input so I’ll just sing it as it is and whisper to myself “joyful”.

Galatians 5:22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

The main thing is to Trust and Obey joyfully, even when we are not quite sure.

Listen to “Stir Me” (If You Dare)

I guess I had a nostalgic moment last week but I started remembering sermons that left a lasting impression on my life. Now I have heard sermons since I was able to realize that the guy standing up on the stage behind the podium was preaching. And I have not remembered the hundreds of messages I have heard. My apologies to all the pastors living or with Jesus. There are, however, sermons that changed my life. Those I remember.

One of the remembered sermons was called “Stir Me” delivered by a petite missionary lady named Helen Roseveare. I heard her as a college student sitting in a required chapel. I was not ready for this little lady to make a difference in me but the words she said burned my heart.

I bought the cassette of her talk. (I know, cassette, which I can’t even play on any machine I now own.)

I have found a website that has the recording of the message and I happily listened to it again. I wondered if it would still have the impact it did so long ago. It did. Find this at sermonindex.net and search “stir me” by Helen Roseveare. Let her get through her unassuming and dated intro before you turn it off, or skip ahead a bit.

Don’t! And I repeat, don’t listen to this if you are a half-way Christian. She doesn’t have time for you and her sermon doesn’t include you.

I’m not even sure if I can put myself in the complete surrender position she placed herself in God’s hands.  But I surely want too. And Hope I will if God calls me to it.

Stir me, God, really stir me.

Stir me to go.

Stir me to give.

Stir me to pray.

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/visit.php?lid=17462

P.S. BTW she's still alive the last I heard. An amazing life story.

Look at the Groom

This is wedding season. I have 3 wedding invitations posted on my refrigerator door and am expecting another one any day now. And so my thoughts are turning to the friendships I have with the brides and grooms and their families. I remember all of the happy and even not so happy events that brought our lives together and bound us together. I'm so honored that they want me to share in this special event in their lives.

There is a lot of planning, preparations, and (dare I say it) stress involved with the process of getting two people married. But overriding all of this is overwhelming joy.

OK, so now I’m studying all the passages about “brides” in the bible. And do you know what I found? It’s really not all about the bride.(As they say in the south, "Well, shut my mouth!") It’s all about the groom! Sorry, I know that is a shock to our cultural sensibilities.

Symbolically in God’s word His people have always been portrayed as the bride and the Godhead as the Groom. That’s why the Bible puts more emphasis on the “Groom.”

I remembered a line from the movie “27 Dresses.” Yes, it’s a chick-flick. The main character, Jane, says, “You know how the bride makes her entrance and everybody turns to look at her? That’s when I look at the groom. Cause his face says it all you know. The pure love there.” The writers probably didn’t realize it but that is what the Bride of Christ, His church, our, response is and will be. We look at our God spiritually but finally face to face at His return and see…pure love.

Isaiah 62:5 for just as a young man marries a maiden, your sons will marry you; and just as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride; so your God will rejoice over you.

So while we turn and look at the bride as she comes down the aisle, remember where the bride is looking. She is looking at the groom. She is looking for the pure love in his eyes.

Our world can get pretty crowded and distracting.

But let’s not lose our focus.

Let’s keep our spiritual eyes on Jesus.

If we look to Him we will see His pure love for us.

We will see that He is rejoicing over us.

Keep looking at the groom.

You Are the Boss of Me

My mother was a saintly woman but even she could be pushed too far. I remember one time she was making her way slowly with her walker from one room to the next and and I was telling her what she should do and not do. She stopped, looked me in the eye and said, “You’re not the boss of me.” It’s pretty bad when your 80 year old mother puts you back in your place.

I thought about her as My Pastor Wade was preaching on Sunday. We all have that tendency toward independence. In most cases, that’s not a bad thing.  But in our Christian life we have to be the followers and surrenderers (Is this a word?). We need to follow Christ and surrender ourselves to pattern our life after The Word of God.

My Pastor Wade took us through the early ministry of the disciple Peter (pre-apostle.)

Jesus originated the contact with Peter. He just looked at him and basically said, “I am the boss of you and I will completely overhaul your life into something you have never experienced before. But you have to stick with me.”

Matthew 4:18-20 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately, they left their nets and followed him.

The disciple Peter had a struggle with the “who’s the boss” part of his life in the beginning of his pursuit of Christ. Sometimes he got it right and sometimes he asserted himself way beyond his place of total surrender.

I can’t be too critical of Peter because he just lived out loud my struggle. I can easily follow Jesus until He steps out of my comfort zone and beckons me to follow. Then, I must confess, the old independent me (or is it scared me?) stands still and says, “You’re not the boss of me.”

My Pastor Wade said in his sermon, “He loves you as you are but He loves you so much He won’t let you stay there.”

And He won’t let me stay there .He didn’t let Peter stay in his beginning place but with love and patience molded him from a lowly uneducated fisherman into a bringer of the Gospel of Christ to his world. He is using great love, grace, and patience to realign me into something that resembles Him too.

I like what Charles Spurgeon said in his sermon “How to Become Fishers of Men” - When Christ calls us by his grace we ought not only to remember what we are, but we ought also to think of what he can make us. It is, "Follow me, and I will make you." We should repent of what we have been, but rejoice in what we may be. It is not "follow me, because of what you are already" but, "follow me, because of what I will make you." It doth not yet appear what we shall be.

My job is to surrender and follow.

His job is to make me into a new person.

He is the boss of me.