The Importance of Joy

It was while the apostle Paul was imprisoned somewhere in Rome that he testified to the fact that no matter what he faced, God would use it all for His purposes. This underlining sense of God being in control and that life has a purpose which gave Paul his confidence and joy. It was in 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment, that Nelson Mandela emerged from jail to eventually become the President of South Africa. When writing about his experience on Robben Island, Mandela said:

"Prison is designed to break one’s spirit and destroy one’s resolve. To do this, the authorities attempt to exploit every weakness, demolish every initiative, negate all signs of individuality – all with the idea of stamping out that spark that makes each us human and each of us who we are…I was now on the sidelines, but I knew that I would not give up the fight…We would fight inside as we had fought outside. The racism and repression were the same; I would simply have to fight on different terms…but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lay defeat and death.”

As a result of his time in prison, Mandela would come to realize that “The Struggle is My Life.” Like the apostle Paul, Mandela learned that imprisonment was part of the ongoing struggle he faced to make a difference in the world. The challenge we face is whether we will go through our struggles in despair and discouragement, or in joy and hope. From these thoughts, the following points emerge:

1. Living in joy is a sign of spiritual maturity.

2. Living in joy runs deeper than happy feelings.

3. Living in joy provides a foretaste of what is to come.

Real joy, as described in the Bible, is the deep sense that all is well, for God is in control of all things. Such knowledge produces deep peace and confidence along with a child-like willingness to trust the Lord no matter what. This is why Jesus could fall asleep in the back of a boat, even while a storm was raging (see Mk. 4:35-41). It is also why Horatio Spafford could write the moving hymn, “It is Well with My Soul,” even after his four daughters died at sea in 1871. He wrote: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.”