Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

John 15:11 – “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Where does your joy come from, the world or Christ? Too many of us our looking for our happiness to come from the world around us. We try to find it in money, vacations, parties, power and prestige, success, relationships, etc. While we do find moments of joy in some or all of these, often this joy is fleeting and conditional, and often they only fill us up for a time.

But God is calling us to a deeper joy that comes from God alone. A joy that He is always watching over us, always walking beside us, always offering us assistance and grace, and always loving us and forgiving us unconditionally. He want to give us an eternity of peace and love, so much so that His son died on the cross to give us a pathway to heaven. Once we truly realize this, we can obtain a true joy in knowing that even through hard times and pain, Christ is there to comfort and guide us through.

It is through this joy and through the grace of God that we are called to share it with others, especially our beloved. It is when we don’t truly believe that God ‘has our back and is fighting for us,’ that we can become selfish, envious, prideful, and greedy in our relationships with others. This is when couples stop listening, understanding, and meeting each other’s needs. But when we trust that God is taking care of us in the good times and bad, that joy is seen and experienced by those around us. We are called to be like Christ to our spouse by showing them our joy lived out through our hope, patience, and compassion in the difficult times.

ACTION STEP: This week, spend time in prayer asking God to help you trust more in Him and for Him to share His joy with you so that your joy may be more complete.