Bearing fruit in keeping with Salvation (part 3)

The Apostle Paul writing from prison declares to the Philippian believers “rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice” (Phil. 4: 4). And in Galatians 5, joy is a virtue of the fruit of the Spirit. Spirit-indwelt and Spirit-filled believers are to be characterized by joy. However, many of us Christians would admit that we are often frustrated, grumpy, complaining and largely unhappy from day to day. How then does a believer live through life with joy?

Relationship with Christ

As recorded in John 15, Christ tells the disciples to abide in Him that their joy may be full or complete. In other words, true lasting joy comes from a healthy relationship with Christ. When one is growing in the knowledge of Him and living according to His Word, he or she possesses a complete satisfaction. Christian joy comes from your knowledge of God through Christ and the many benefits of that relationship. It finds its anchor in the knowledge of God. This kind of joy cannot be manufactured by our own efforts, and it is not dependent on life’s circumstances.

This joy is also contrary to the popular notion of joy and happiness in the world. The world tells us that happiness comes from having all you need and desire, and it comes from the absence of negatives in your life. The popular motivational talk is that if you want to be happy get rid of all the negativity around you and you will be happy. It is this talk that has left quite a number of people frustrated because try as they may, they still do not find happiness because they have not found rest and satisfaction in Christ (Matt. 11:28-30).

Counting your blessings

In addition to abiding in Christ and finding our satisfaction, we cultivate joy by recounting God’s abundant blessings in our lives. We should always go through life knowing God is giving us better than we actually deserve.  Forgetfulness is a human problem. We have the tendency to forget the grace of God and to remember our frustrations. It is therefore no wonder that the psalmist declares:

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. Psalm 103

There is a common notion which suggests that those who follow and serve the Lord are deprived of joy. This notion portrays God as a party pooper, who is out to sit on your joy. Therefore, it says that true happiness can only be found in disobeying God and living in sin. Such kind of thinking could not be further from the truth. True and lasting joy is found in God through Christ. Those who are in Christ are in indeed complete! Here the words of Isaac Watts in one of his many hymns:

Come, we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known; Join in a song with sweet accord, and thus surround the throne. The sorrows of the mind be banished from the place; Religion never was designed to make our pleasures less.