Joy is a Fruit

Earlier this week I was scrolling through Pinterest, on a mission to find pictures for the vision board I was constructing in my office. I scrolled past many cheesy quotes (things like “dream it, do it!” and “you got this, girlboss!”), but eventually my eyes fell upon one that caused me to pause. It read:

“Happiness is a mood, joy is a fruit.”

Wow.

If you grew up going to church, then you probably remember singing that one song about the fruit of the Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” I loved that song when I was little. Now it’s going to be stuck in my head the rest of the day.

It’s not just a song though, it’s a real verse from Galatians – Galatians 5:22-23 to be exact. It goes like this:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against these there is no law.”

I have had the fruits of the Spirit memorized since I was old enough to go to vacation Bible school, and therefore have known that joy is one of them for a very long time – I had not, however, really taken the time to think about what that truly meant until I read that quote.

You see, as Christians, we are called to live our lives radically differently than how the world expects us to live. This (as I’m sure you are more than aware) is actually incredibly difficult considering the fact that our spirit and our flesh are constantly at war with each other. The verses in Galatians 5 leading up to 22-23 actually demonstrate this:

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.”

The things listed above are what we naturally lean towards, and this is solidified by social media, school, and just society in general. Our flesh desires to be part of the world – to fit in regardless of the sin. So if we naturally lean in that direction, that would imply that leaning in the opposite direction (towards the fruit of the Spirit) is something that takes conscious practice. It implies that it is not something that comes naturally.

I have never thought of joy in this way, and I think that is mostly due to the fact that I have confused “joy” with “happiness”. The two may be synonyms in the thesaurus, but biblically, they could not be more different.

Happiness is a mood, which means that it is fleeting and dependent upon your circumstances and surroundings.

Joy is a fruit, which means that it is solid and rooted completely in your faith and love for Jesus.

Happiness is earthly.

Joy is Heavenly.

I spend a lot of my time trying to better myself – I go to therapy, make diet and exercise plans, journal…all things that, I believe, will turn me into a person who is joyful. I have been tricked into believing that joy is a destination to reach, which makes me yearn for the “next thing” –

“When I get married, I’ll have joy.”

“When I have a job that I love, I’ll have joy.”

“When I lose some weight, I’ll have joy.”

And on.

And on.

And on.

The cycle repeats until I die – and guess what?

I never reach my destination.

And the enemy is so tricky for making me think like that, isn’t he?

By distracting me with thoughts of what could be, I have been inadvertently tricked into believing that it is not only irrational, but impossible to have joy in the present – and I didn’t even notice.

It started small. My anxiety got a little worse, nibbling at the corners of my brain and stomach. Then, I started to hate my job and slack off. Then, I started to get grumpy and resentful towards my boyfriend, friends, and family – and the next thing I knew I was spiraling out of control with discontent.

And that is no way to live, is it?

I had grown so used to hungering for my future that I neglected filling myself up in the present. I was blind to the beauty that existed around me because I had been convinced that beauty only comes from circumstances. I wanted to be joyful, but I was confusing it with happiness, therefore making it unreachable in my current place.

Joy is a fruit. Fruit growth takes practice. It takes patience. It takes time. It takes lots of mindfulness and prayer. Learning to be joyful is an art form – and it isn’t one that is going to happen overnight.

Your enemy does not want you to have joy, and knows that you naturally lean in the direction of sin. He wants to keep you distracted with fantasies of happiness, stories of “what ifs”, keeping joy unreachable and the cycle unending. He is incredibly sneaky – so much so that, like me, you may not even notice that you’re being deceived.

That being said,  you are going to have to fight to find joy. You’re going to have to fight with all you’ve got. You’re going to have to live in a way that is radically different from the way the world wants you to live.

Despite what your enemy whispers to you, there is joy in each day. There is joy even in the valley – you just have to look a little harder.

Don’t stop fighting for joy. This world may be broken, but God’s goodness still gives new breath to our bones and light to our lives each day.

Keep fighting the Good Fight.

The Law of Demand

Last semester, I suffered through a macroeconomics class. I was absolutely terrible at it, and because I didn't understand majority of the content I didn't take a whole lot away from the class overall. One of the only things I remember is the law of demand, specifically that our demand for "more stuff" is never ending. No matter what, people are always going to want more. 

I think this unending want is innate, but is encouraged from a young age. We're taught that it's good to want more, and that the want for more is a sign of a good work ethic. As we grow up, we begin to equate "happiness" to "more stuff." It's not on purpose, it's just how we are (and how we're socialized). We think that if we can just get that one thing that we want, we will be happy and our desire for more will be met - but that isn't how the law of demand works.

The reason that the law of demand reigns supreme is because all of the things we're craving are temporary, as in the pleasure they provide for us is fleeting. In the end, we always end up craving more - more money, more sex, more authority at work, more attention - just more.

You may be asking yourself what this has to do with Jesus.

Well, allow me to introduce you to the love bucket metaphor.

We are human buckets. In order to achieve happiness, we fill our buckets with things that we love. This can be things like the affection of a boyfriend, drinking, shopping - basically anything that brings us comfort. The problem however, is that we are all born with a God-sized hole in our bucket. Each time we fill it with things of this earth, they slowly trickle out the hole in our buckets, leaving us empty again and again. Until we learn to patch that hole, our buckets can never be filled and we will never feel satisfied. 

It makes sense that we would patch a God-sized hole with God, but that's easier said than done. There are so many tangible and pleasurable things that we have access to, which makes it difficult to focus on God. We are so focused on getting "the next best thing" that we sometimes forget that God even exists.

I am incredibly guilty of this. I am a serial bucket-filler, and I fill it the most with boys. It's nice to feel loved, but I rely so much on the other person to make me feel complete that I always end up feeling disappointed and uncared for. This has made my romantic life very frustrating. It doesn't make sense to ask a boy to fill a God-sized hole, yet I expect them to do it over and over. 

Maybe you're the same way. Maybe your problem isn't boys, maybe it's spending money on things you don't really need. Maybe it's food. Maybe it's drugs or drinking. Maybe it's sleep. Whatever it is that you're relying on to make you happy is what you're using to fill your bucket - and if it's not God, you're always going to end up with that same empty feeling.

The cool thing about God is that He's overflowing with love, and He's not going to withhold the love that you're craving. In fact, He's waiting for you to accept it! Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, love in hand, ready to pour into you and fill your bucket at any time you wish - all you gotta do is let Him in!

It goes both ways though - you can't expect Jesus to come and pour into you if you're not pouring into Him. He wants a relationship with you, and relationships - as you know - require lots and lots of effort from both sides. Jesus is more than willing to do His part and fill you up, but you have to be willing to spend time with Him. Talk to Him. Pray fervently. Open your Bible and read His word. Having a relationship with Jesus is the most rewarding and fulfilling thing you can do for yourself. Ephesians 3:18-19 says:

"may you have the strength to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ for you that surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God."

God is ready to patch up your bucket.

Are you going to let Him?

(hint: you should.)

It will fill you up more than you thought possible, and will satisfy your every desire.

_________________________

Songs to praise Him to (because He's so good):

Satisfied - Jordan Feliz

O Come to the Altar - Elevation Worship

Spirit of the Living God - Vertical Worship

"The Defense Would Like to Call the Next Witness to the Stand..."

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

In Acts chapter 26, Paul defends himself to King Agrippa against accusations made by the Jews. He hadn't done anything wrong, but Christians were a highly persecuted people by Jews and Gentiles alike (sound familiar?). If you are familiar with the story of Paul, then you know about the whole Saul to Paul transformation. If you haven't heard this story, let me give you a brief synopsis:

Paul used to be called Saul-King Saul, actually. He was not a good man - he persecuted saints; throwing them in jail and even sentencing them to death. He pillaged synagogues and even traveled to other cities to put believers to death. His life took a complete 180 however, when Jesus Christ himself appeared to him and told him that He was changing Saul's name to Paul and was sending him out to be a witness for God. Paul did exactly that, eventually becoming one of the most influential witnesses for Christ ever.

So when Paul was called to testify and defend himself, he told Agrippa his story - just like he told everyone else. He told him about his own experiences. He told him the truth. 

The people in the king's court didn't respond very kindly - they called him insane, saying that he was out of his mind. Paul gently replied that he was not crazy, that he was just telling the truth. Turning to the king, he asked Agrippa if he believed the teaching of prophets (basically, "do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?"), to which Agrippa replied "do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian in such a short time?" (Acts 26:28). 

Paul replied, "short time or long - I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains" (Acts 26:29). 

Now how amazing is that?

Paul demonstrated perfectly what it looks like to be a true witness for Christ. If you watch T.V. shows like Law and Order or other courtroom dramas, you know that the job of the witness is to go up to the stand, swear on the Bible to tell the truth, and report to the courtroom what they experienced. It is not the witness's job to decide who's guilty and who's innocent, that's the judge's job. All the witness has to do is tell the truth. 

If you call yourself a follower of Christ, then you are called to be a witness for Him. Kind of intimidating right? Well, the way you're thinking about it, it probably sounds like it - but I promise that it's not as hard as you think. 

You don't have to know all of the answers to be a witness. If someone asks you something about the bible and you don't know the answer - 

listen up, I'm about to blow your mind

- that's 100% okay. In fact, it's expected. No one has all of the answers! It's totally fine to tell someone who has challenged your beliefs that you don't know the answer to one of their questions. All you have to say is "that's a good question! Maybe I can look into it and we can meet up and talk about what I find" or "I don't know, all I know is what my experiences are."

As long as your response is full of respect and love, then you did your job as a witness. You shouldn't shove your beliefs down the person's throat (as much as I would like to - but people don't like being choked or smothered by the Gospel, believe it or not). All you have to do is tell people the truth - that Jesus Christ is the son of God, was sent to earth to live a blameless life, died on the cross for our sins, and conquered sin and death by rising from the dead. 

That same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead is alive inside of you -

What are you going to do with that power?

Will you be a witness for Christ?