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If you could measure joy—how joyful you are—any guess what score you would get? Have you been joyful much lately?
Well, there is no way to measure just how joyful you are, but you surely know when you’re not joyful, right? So, my question is, “What is stealing your joy?” We know from Galatians 5 that joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit—evidence that the Spirit of God indwells you. So, as Christ-followers, joy should be our trademark. But too often it seems like joy is very elusive. One day we get a flash of joy, but life seems to steal our joy so easily, and it can seem pretty bleak.
Could it be that guilt or shame is stealing your joy? Do you beat yourself up a lot because you keep dwelling on how you don’t measure up? Maybe you are ashamed of something in your past, or feeling guilty because you blew it yesterday? Well, here’s some good news for you, as someone has said, Jesus doesn’t follow you around with a scorecard. He’s not making a list and checking it twice—no way. Jesus wants you to live in freedom from your past, freedom for sins that have been forgiven.
I love this verse from Isaiah 61:7: “Instead of your shame you will receive a double portion, and instead of disgrace you will rejoice in your inheritance. And so you will inherit a double portion in your land, and everlasting joy will be yours.” Of course, this was written to the people of Israel, but it applies to us as well. Jesus is your friend as well as your Savior, and he wants to give you a double portion of his grace and replace that disgrace, that shame you’re carrying around with his everlasting joy.
In Hebrews we read that Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame for the joy that was set before him. He scorned the shame of the cross—he rejected that scorn, he refused it—so that you as his child can refuse the shame that is stealing your joy.
I just want to encourage you to refuse to let the enemy steal your joy. That is his modus operandi—he’s a thief and a robber. What can you do? Sing songs of praise; recite all you have to be thankful for; tell someone about Jesus. Stand up to the enemy and resist him by faith; he’ll give up pretty quickly in the face of praise, and the joy of the Lord can again be your strength.