Are You Joyful?
I grew up in Kentucky and compared to the urban city of Boston the more rural land provided a lot more area for wildlife. I remember times, not often but occasionally, looking out the window and seeing deer walking through our yard. If we had wanted to see them more often one thing that we could have used to attract them would be a salt lick. A salt lick is a block of salt and minerals that are filled with nutrients that the deer needs in their diet. The available nutrients, and the smell of the salt will draw deer from a wide area to come and eat, enjoy, and be satisfied by the salt lick.
In learning about a salt lick it made me think: what would someone who isn’t a Christian and who doesn’t follow Christ see in a Christian that would compel them to want to come and meet Jesus? 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 says that Christians are the aroma of Christ to God and a fragrance of life to those who will come to Jesus. The scent of Christ in us should be an appeal to others to gather and to taste and enjoy Jesus. How do you know if you are smelling like Christ? You have a joy found in God.
The first question in the Westminster Catechism is: what is the chief end of Man? The answer: man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. That is, our greatest affection and delight in all things is God. He is the source of all joy. The first joy we can experience with God is in salvation. “I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:18). From our joy in salvation we then can find joy in all things. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
How is this joy in God an appealing aroma to a lost and dying world that is around us? When your company downsizes and you lose your job, you don’t respond with anxiety about how you will pay rent next month, but respond with a joy in God that remembers that the lilies of the field do not work yet are clothed in splendor, and in the same way you have a heavenly Father who will care for you every needs (Matthew 6:25-33).
When faced with a scary physical diagnosis, you don’t respond in fear and worry but in joy that you know that Jesus is the great physician (John 5:1-9) and that your life is in his hands. As others see you succeed in an endeavor, they see that you delighted less in succeeding and delighted more in being called a son or daughter of God.
In Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, He teaches that you are blessed when others revile or persecute you because of your faith in Him. How should you respond when they do, “rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matther 5:11-12).
The thing is, everyone places their hope and their joy in something. It may be in your work, in your studies, health, achievements, relationships, or any number of other things. If we did not have a relationship with God, Christians would be placing our hope and joy in the same things. Something will fill the object of worship at the center of our lives.
The question you must consider is this: does your life reflect a joy that comes only when God is placed as the object of worship in our lives? Does your life exude a joy in God that is present at both the highs of life as well as the lows and disappointments that you face? That is your chief end, that you would glorify God and have joy in Him; that you would delight in Him. When your joy is in God it will be an appealing aroma of Christ to those around you, drawing them in as they desire to have a taste of the joy that you have found in Christ Jesus.
