The Job Description of Heaven's Joy

C. S. Lewis said, "Joy is the serious business of heaven." You can find this to be a constant in the life of the early church. Through the threats, the ridicule, persecution and the very real practical challenges of a new work...the early disciples knew what it was to experience joy. In other words, through all of the "stuff" of life, no matter how tough it got, they continued to press through with a great resolve and supernatural testimony. I like to think of joy to mean being distracted from outward circumstances. This is frankly what the Christian life is all about...the Kingdom life. Romans 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." There's nothing worse than a sour saint - believers who don't really believe that the walk of faith works. So, how can we keep from getting sour and continue to pursue our God-given purpose in life...no matter what? Acts 13:52 gives us the narrative of the early Church among some very difficult times of persecution. It reads, "And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit." The original translation is that they were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 tells us how to walk in this joy: "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit." The original meaning is be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Know your source of joy...and go their continually.

As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians - and I am one of them.