Where Is Your Joy Rooted?
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - James 1:17
Imagine you’re walking down a sidewalk. As you walk, God is showering you with all of these amazing gifts. One incredible blessing after another falls at your feet as He pours out His love for you. But in the midst of receiving all these things, you’re looking for one specific gift...and it’s not here. You get so wrapped up searching desperately for that one thing you want that you fail to notice and appreciate all of the other gifts God is presenting to you.
It’s heartbreaking when you think about it that way, but how many of us are guilty of doing just that? We can’t appreciate the blessings, gifts, and opportunities God lovingly and graciously gives to us because we’re too distracted as we wait for Him to give us the one thing we don’t have.
When we make this mistake, we are robbed of our joy. When we are more focused on the gift than we are on the Giver, we have rooted our joy in the wrong place. And as long as we misplace our source of joy, we will never be satisfied, grateful, or at peace.
I tell you all of this because I don’t want you to make this mistake. I don’t want you to wrap your joy up in a relationship, a job opportunity, an acceptance letter, or the approval and admiration of others. I don’t want you to feel that pain and discontentment that comes as a result of rooting your joy in the wrong place. Instead, I want you to understand that true, lasting joy can only be found in Christ, because with His joy, you are given the kind of hope, faith, and perseverance you need to navigate any unexpected season that might come your way.
Paul said it so well in his letter to the Romans when he wrote, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
My prayer is that even when life doesn’t turn out how you hoped, even when your plans don’t come to fruition, and even when your circumstances don’t look like you expected them to, you can still rejoice. You can have faith in the Father’s timing. You can trust the Father’s will, and you can overflow with hope that only comes from Him.