**** UPDATE*****
Please note that I have removed this ebook from both the Amazon and the Nook ebookstores because Indescribable Joy has been picked up by Crosspoint Publishing. Indescribable Joy will be available in paperback and ebook formats from Crosspoint Publishing in Summer 2013. Please be looking out for announcements of its coming at that time.
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The following is the introduction to my new e-book, Indescribable Joy: Discovering the Principles of Joy from Paul's Letter to the Philippians. The e-book is available exclusively on Nook and Kindle.
Introduction
I think I have to admit
that I am not always the happiest of persons.
It may not be the best way to start a book about joy, but it is an
honest one. Some mornings I get up,
stumble into the bathroom, look in the mirror and see the reflection of a
horrifying grimace staring back at me.
It is not a very happy looking face (until after an appropriate consumption
of caffeine). I wonder where the grimace
came from and realize that maybe I’m just getting older faster than I wanted
to. I used to be very happy in the
morning time.
Likewise, I sometimes
come home from a long day’s work and collapse onto the sofa in exhaustion and
wonder where all the energy went that I used to have when I was 20 years
old. You would think I would be happy
that I was home and perhaps on the inside I am, but at the moment I am simply
too exhausted to show it.
Over the years, I have
been through some very difficult times.
Although God has always carried me through those times, I would be a
liar if I even thought about classifying those experiences as being happy
moments.
So what happened to the
American Dream? What happened to my
inalienable, God-given right to the pursuit of happiness as promised in the
Declaration of Independence of the United States of America? Have I simply not achieved it? Has my pursuit been in vain?
I do not think I am
alone in this. I see the rich and
fabulous and while there appears to be happiness from time to time, there sure
does seem to be a great deal of unhappiness, discontentment, and even downright
misery. No matter if you are rich or
poor, everyone experiences pain. No
matter what your social status, there always seems to be something that can
make us unhappy.
On the other hand, I
have seen people of all socio-economic situations who seem to be perfectly
content, regardless of their circumstances.
Why are some more able to deal with the difficulties in life than
others? Pursue happiness… why isn’t that
enough?
So here is the question
I must ponder: Is that famous phrase
from the Declaration of Independence, which is considered to be one of the most
well-crafted phrases in the history of the English language, nothing more than
an empty promise? After all, if it
really is our inalienable, God-given right, why do we experience so much
unhappiness?
Now I do not say this as
an attempt to squash our patriotic ideals.
Rather, I think perhaps Thomas Jefferson and his fellow draftsmen in all
their bountiful wisdom may have simply used the wrong word. As acclaimed as this famous saying may be
for its poetic and eloquent use of the English language, I do not think it is
accurate to say that we have an unalienable, God-given right to the pursuit of
Happiness.
Nowhere in scripture
will you find a promise that we will always be happy. What you will find, however, are numerous
promises and commands about being filled with joy. In Psalm 16:11, we are promised that there is
a fullness of joy in the presence of the LORD.
In Psalm 100 and other places we are commanded to make a joyful
noise. In Ecclesiastes 3:12, the preacher
(presumably King Solomon) says that there is nothing better for man than to
have joy. Jesus’ half-brother Jude says
that our goal is to be presented blameless before God “with great joy” (Jude
1:24). In John 15:11, Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be
in you and that your joy may be complete (NIV 84).” The
apostle John said basically the same thing in 1 John 1:4.
I think I would much
rather have joy that is complete than I would happiness, because joy is so much
deeper and richer than just surface happiness.
In all, the English Standard Version of the Bible mentions the word joy
in some form or other over 200 times.
Happiness (or happy) appears less than 15.
Unfortunately, like our
forefathers who founded the United States of America, it may just be possible
that we have a great misconception about that which God wishes for us to
experience. We think he wants us to be
happy when instead he really wants us to be joyful. Because of this misconception, we pursue what
we think
will bring us happiness with all of our hearts.
Too often, what we get is heartache instead. Meanwhile, simple opportunities for
experiencing joy fall by the wayside or are overlooked each and every day.
But you may ask: Aren’t
happiness and joy essentially the same thing?
Isn’t it a good thing for me to want to be happy? Finding the answers to those questions is
precisely the point of this book. We
need to understand the difference between happiness and joy and why we should
pursue the latter rather than the former.
We need to understand how to maintain joy, even when it is impossible to
remain happy. This is a dark and
difficult world and scripture is clear that we will face many hardships. We cannot always be happy, but we can be
blessed with an indescribable joy that will never leave us – even in the valley
of the shadow of death. How can this
be? It can be because we have been
endowed by our creator with an inalienable right to the pursuit of joy. Now let’s figure out together how to obtain
it…
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