HCLM BLOG

I watched extreme home makeover last night. That show always makes me a little uncomfortable. People always seem a little too good, and the houses are presented as a panacea. I mean I know it's a good thing, but it reminds me that we are not living for this life, but the next and Jesus once said that it's harder for the rich to get that than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle. But the people always seem happy and you can count on tears.

That show was in my mind this morning when I spent some time looking at joy. Chris and I are talking about the fruit of the spirit in the "Audio Conversations" (by the way we are taking suggestions for a better name for those things). We're talking about one characteristic a week. I think we'll consider joy this week.

I have this cool book that shows me each time the greek word translated joy is used in the New Testament. So far it's making me think of the subversive nature of Jesus and his kingdom. You know, that his kingdom is neither beholden nor subject to the leaders or laws of this world. In fact at one point the evangelist Paul says, "in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality." Joy comes with deep poverty? That is certainly inconistent with the perspective of this world. See joy is a gift of the spirit, it comes at the behest of our King independent and often inspite or in the face of the realities of this world.

Joy is difficult to define. It is deeper and broader that hapiness; more substantial. I want to say that is a position of the heart that keeps it from the grip of fear, despair, or even guilt. This position is bought for us by the cross, and comes as a free gift to those who don't refuse it.