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J Joy
A layman in a British church was assigned to meet an incoming guest preacher at the train station. Upon seeing a certain somber-looking man in dark clothes, he stepped forward and said, "You must be the Reverend Smith."
The man replied, "No, I'm not a clergyman at all. I'm not even interested in religion. It's my indigestion that makes me look like this!"
________
Matthew 6:16: "Do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do…"
Source: Lowell M. Atkinson, in "The Minister's Manual for 1994," p. 41.
Topics/Tags: Countenance; Happiness; Joy
"Jesus was full of joy. For American Christians raised on a spiritual diet of dour Puritanism, this may not be immediately obvious. The Renaissance paintings of the 'gentle Jesus, meek and mild' have left on our culture a nearly indelible image of a weak, almost girlish man who appears a passive victim of His Father's will. The Scriptures, however, tell a different story. They reveal a vigorous public leader who walked all over Palestine (no task for the physically unfit!), who courageously stood His ground in verbal combat with the pompous religious authorities of His day (and always won!), and who lived His brief life to the fullest, building life-changing relationships with all those who sought Him out. The Gospels show us a 'joyful Jesus, strong and bold.'"
Source: Robert Don Hughes, "The Joyful Jesus." In "Home Life," October 1998, p. 15.
Topics/Tags: Jesus, the christ; Joy
Here are some suggestions for building JOY in your family life:
* Stay focused. See God at work in all things.
* Make a joyful noise. Make music together; laugh together!
* Notice the little things.
* Be a wise investor. Invest in people rather than in things.
* Be "joy smugglers." Make it your mission to sneak God's joy into the lives of others!
* Get outside. Don't be "house potatoes"!
* Celebrate the victories of others.
* Be a "farmer in the fields of the Lord."
* Plan for play times.
* Be joy for others. Be filled with what the world is looking for!
Source: Steve Pettit, "Intentionally Joy-Full Families." In "Home Life," October 1998, p. 17.
We all know that the shortest verse in the English Bible is John 11:35: "Jesus wept." Too bad there's not another brief verse somewhere else which simply reads, "Jesus laughed"! As Robert Don Hughes states: "Have we as Christians majored on misery and minored on joy?"
Source: "The Joyful Jesus." In "Home Life," October 1998, p. 15.
"Actor Bruce Marchiano has … captured the Savior's sense of humor . . . . Using only the words of the Gospel itself, Marchiano shows a Jesus who enjoys telling the parables; who laughs as He preaches; who pours water over an unsuspecting listener, then quickly embraces him; who rolls laughing on the ground in celebration with a healed leper.
"To those accustomed to film portrayals of Jesus that depict Him as distant and cerebral, this all may take some getting used to, but [one] comes away … with a new understanding of the rich warmth of Jesus—a warmth that made Him the central figure of any gathering He attended."
Source: Robert Don Hughes, "The Joyful Jesus." In "Home Life," October 1998, p. 15.
Topics/Tags: Joy; Humor; Jesus, the christ
"A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition."
____
With the joy of Christ at the fore of your life, you can overcome even the most "cloudy" circumstances.
Source: William Arthur Ward
Joy is often cheapened through counterfeiting. Many people live with a so-called "joy" that is really no different from the fake laughter drummed up by the "applause" or "laughter" signs flashed to studio audience members at the taping of a television show.
Jesus promises, though, that only He can provide us with joy that is heart-felt, not "worked-up" or "tele-prompted."
Source: "Proclaim," 1989 #4, p. 32.
The famous Lawrence of Arabia once visited London and brought along some of his desert-dwelling friends. These men were impressed by the bustling city and its modern conveniences. They were impressed most by the water faucets—all one had to do to obtain fresh water was turn a handle!
The naïve visitors asked Lawrence an interesting (and silly) question: Would it be possible, they wondered, to take some of these water faucets back to the desert?…
Misguided? Of course. Yet, when people who are spiritually dead attempt to find joy and fulfillment in material pursuits, pleasure-filled living, or worldly success, they are doing the same thing: They are attempting to turn on a "water tap" to bring forth joy, when in reality there is no source of water to tap into.
True joy and fulfillment are possible only after grounding one's life in the source of Living Water.
Source: "Proclaim," 1989 #4, p. 32.
Topics/Tags: Water; Joy; Fulfillment
Seasonal depression is a special brand of clinical depression that seems to be related to the change of seasons, especially the change from fall to winter. Some doctors have used an interesting method to treat seasonal depression: Suspecting that the patients' depression might be related to the decrease in sunlight brought about by the change of seasons, these doctors have their patients sit in front of a bright fluorescent light for a few hours each day.
Christians should not be surprised to learn that light can treat depression. John 1:4 declares, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people."
Source: "Proclaim," 1989 #4, p. 36.
Topics/Tags: Depression; Light; Joy
God often digs the wells of joy with the spade of sorrow.
--
Gary Heard
Melbourne, Australia
Source: "Christian Leadership" email discussion list
Topics/Tags: Joy; Sorrow; God, preserver
Browse By Topic J Joy