I\u2019ve been a joy seeker from an early age. As a child, before life\u2019s troubles crusted my heart, I tasted joy: Christmas smells and lights, waking up to freshly fallen snow, strawberries from my grandfather’s garden, family vacations in Vermont.<\/p>\n
These whiffs awakened desires for lasting joy built into me by my Creator. I went searching for more,\u00a0 but\u00a0 lost the scent along the way, traveling many wrong roads.<\/p>\n
God doesn\u2019t want us settling for finite pleasures to fulfill our need for eternal joy. He made us for much more. As C.S. Lewis wrote, \u201cIt would seem that our Lord finds our desire not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday the sea. We are too far to easily pleased.\u201d[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Joy isn’t automatically realized when you give your life to Christ and invite Him to indwell you by His Holy Spirit. But this is where the journey begins.<\/p>\n Wrong pursuits\u00a0 of joy require painful redirection of passions, making room for more Jesus in our lives. He is Joy Personified.\u00a0 \u201cIn Your Presence is Fullness of Joy;\u201d<\/span>[2]<\/a><\/p>\n On the night before He died, Jesus laid out in clear, unmistakable terms, our path to complete Joy:<\/p>\n 9\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>\u201cAs the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.<\/span>10\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father\u2019s commands and remain in his love. <\/span>11\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. <\/span>12\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.<\/span>(John 15:9-12 NIV)<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Verse<\/span><\/span> 9<\/span> \u2013 A declaration of undeserved Love and a command to Remain<\/p>\n Verse 10<\/span> \u2013 A conditional for staying in the love of Jesus<\/p>\n Verse 12<\/span>– A specific command, fulfilling the condition and becoming the true goal of every day<\/p>\n Verse 11<\/span>– The astounding result of loving sacrificially \u2013 Complete Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n Lord, help us receive Your love and give it away. How brilliant that the way we stay in Your love<\/strong> and experience Your Joy<\/strong> is by loving others the way you\u2019ve loved us. This can only happen as we abide in You. Day by day guide us to those You want to love though us. Fill us with the Joy of Your presence as we love.<\/em><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> The Weight of Glory, C.S.Lewis<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Psalm 16:11b NASB<\/p>\n Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures. Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post once a week. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>Novels by the Author:<\/p>\n