Bible Text: Luke 10:21 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living |

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. Luke 10:21

Have you ever had the experience of reading something in the Bible–even something that you have read many times before–and then it leaps out at you? It grabs you almost as if it was printed in red, or was blinking neon, and you said to yourself, “Funny, I never saw that before.” Strangely enough, I’ve never had quite that same experience in reading the newspaper or the periodic chart of the elements, but it does happen reading the Bible, one of the positive proofs that this book is no ordinary book.

OK, you’re expecting me to give you a “for example,” right? Right! Here it is. In Luke’s account of the Gospel, there is a phrase which says that Jesus was full of joy, and recently as I was reading Luke 10, that phrase took me captive. Jesus–full of joy. Doesn’t quite fit the image of someone who wore black, never smiled, and never cracked jokes with the disciples or laughed at theirs. A joyful Jesus. It just doesn’t fit the stereotype which the artists have given to us down through the centuries. But then maybe the stereotype isn’t accurate.

I read several different translations and all said about the same thing. Then I decided to take advantage of seven and a half years of studying Greek and see exactly how that word was used elsewhere in the New Testament and the writings of the early church fathers.

Here’s what I discovered. The word means exactly what the text says. It means “to be glad, to rejoice.”

Peter, the fisherman who became Jesus’ right-hand man, used the same word when he wrote that “you might shout for joy” (1 Peter 4:13, The Message). That’s pretty clear. In Acts 16:34 Luke used the same word of a man who was “filled with joy because he had come to believe in God.”

Peter used the word another time, saying that joy was unspeakable, or indescribable. Is that the same thing as “to be happy” about something? Not at all. Luke says that the source of Jesus’ joy was the Holy Spirit. There was a God-connection. It was the Holy Spirit who caused the joy.

“Well,” you may be thinking, “how does this apply to my life?” Good question. I’m convinced that one of the great secrets of the Christian life is the relationship between God’s Holy Spirit–the same thing which brought joy to the heart of Jesus long ago–and our lives today. The New Testament says this is one of our great strengths, something which most people outside the family of God neither have nor can understand. Joy is the by-product of a God-connection which results in the Holy Spirit’s indwelling you, in driving back the darkness of circumstances, going far beyond the quest for happiness which consumes so many.

Paul says that joy is the fruit, the outward manifestation of God’s indwelling spirit. Someone who has a definite gift of saying things commented that joy is the flag flown from the castle of your heart when the king is in residence and has taken his place on the throne of your heart. Not bad, not bad at all.

Many of God’s children–perhaps you as well–settle for far less than God intended. Not understanding that God is far greater than what worries us, they go through life struggling with frustration and turmoil. This is not to suggest that those outside the household of faith have never tasted of joy, but it is to assert that we who are Christians should taste it and relish it as part of our birthright.

If joy is missing in your life, drop to your knees and say, “Lord, I’m short on joy. Please, Lord, fill my cup to overflowing.” He will.

Resource reading: Galatians 5