Post
by steve » Wed Dec 02, 2015 10:33 pm
To "take joy" certainly sounds like an emotion. I was thinking of the term in the sense that we are commanded to "rejoice" in something (usually, in the Lord). This is often commanded, as if it is something more to be rationally chosen than felt. It would be like someone saying, "I am grieving the loss of my husband, but I am just glad he is in heaven right now." This would be saying, "I am rejoicing that he was saved and is in heaven—even though all my emotions are sad." Spiritual rejoicing and sad emotions are thus compatible. Jesus must have had this in mind when He said, "Happy are those who mourn" (Matt.54), and "Happy are you who weep" (Luke 6:21).
I have always found it difficult to explain a phenomenon which, I believe, all Spirit-filled Christians know by experience—namely, the spiritual fruits of peace and joy that transcend the surface emotions of immediate circumstances.
Both peace and joy are known to all people as emotions. However, the fruit of the Spirit speaks of something deeper than feelings. Jesus said that the peace He gives is "not as the world gives" (John 14:27) and Paul spoke of it as the "peace that surpasses all understanding" (Phil.4:7). Jesus said that we have this peace "in Him" even while we are experiencing tribulation "in the world" (John 16:33). This peace must exist even when our emotions are distraught.
Similarly, Peter speaks of the "joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8)—which is described, a few verses earlier, in these terms: "in [salvation] you greatly rejoice, though...you have been grieved by various trials"(v.6). Peter and John, having been flogged, went away "rejoicing" that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for Christ (Acts 5:41). This rejoicing must certainly have accompanied feelings of great pain. James also exhorts us to "count it all joy when you fall into various trials" (James 1:2).
That which is spiritual is at a different level from that which is merely emotional.
When I describe love as something that causes us to take joy (be glad) in the act of self-sacrifice, I am not specifically referring to what we would normally think of as the well-known emotion of light-hearted happiness. Jesus did not seem lighthearted while on the cross, but we are told that He endured it "for the joy that was set before Him" (Heb.12:2). I take this to mean that He was glad to do it, out of love for His Father (who required it) and for us (who needed it).
I suppose this kind of "joy" might be described as the absence of reluctance, grudging or regret. If I regret having made a sacrifice, or if I am reluctant in making it, then I am not "glad" or "rejoicing" to do it. That is what I mean in describing acts of love as I have. If I am bummed about having to wake up in the night to change my child's sheets because of a bedwetting incident, I am not doing it out of love for my child. If my wife asks me to interrupt something I am enjoying doing, in order to assist her in something she is doing, and if I resent having to do so, this means I am not acting in love, but only in duty. Similarly, if I have to give up some enjoyment, some possession, or my life, in the faithful obedience to God, if I am displeased that I have to do so, then I need to cultivate love for God in my heart. The three incentives I mentioned above are helpful in this.
When every sacrifice or even pain is offered up out of love to Jesus, it leads to a life of continuous joy and peace—despite emotional fluctuations. Most of our acts of love toward God are also acts of service to others. "Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, my brethren, you have done it to me." When we contemplate our indebtedness, and the majesty of the One for whom even a costly sacrifice is required, there is no rational inward response than to say, "It's the least I could do!"