Are you looking for Joy?

Looking for joy

You know the old phrase that says, you get what you pay for. One Christian amended that to this: you get what you pray for. I’d like to add a third: you find what you’re looking for.

If you have a basically pessimistic outlook on life, if you expect to be disappointed by people, encounter moral and ethical failures, run into financial hardships, and suffer rejection, you will find all those things. If on the other hand you choose an optimistic worldview, if you believe that Christ has risen, that all things are possible in him, that every day you will meet awesome people, that God’s help and support will keep coming from a variety of angles, that there is a solution for every problem, then that’s what you will experience. 

Are you looking for joy? Do you believe that there still is goodness in the people God is sending into your life? “[Love] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:7). That isn’t blind faith. It’s eyes-wide-open faith, because it’s not based on naïve and wishful thinking. It’s not a foolish projection of one’s own fantasy life. It’s based on God’s clear promise. Jesus’ resurrection made him a winner. Your faith in Jesus makes you a winner too.

Look for joy today and you will find it.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. (‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13‬:‭1-7‬ NLT)