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 A few years ago Canadian writer Mike Mason (author of The Mystery of Marriage, The Gospel According to Job, etc.) launched what he called "an experiment in joy": he made up his mind to be joyful in the Lord every day for ninety days. A moody person by nature, for him this was a radical experiment that changed his life. Throughout the ninety days he kept a journal, which eventually became a book on joy entitled Champagne for the Soul.
What follows is part of a series of ten excerpts from that book (now in a new edition by Regent College Publishing, available through Amazon.ca).
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Philippians 4:4
Throughout my experiment in joy I made a point of telling people what I was doing. Often I heard the comment, But surely a person cannot be happy all the time? While my ninety days were certainly characterized by ups and downs, I still wanted to answer, Why not? Why not accept the grand, stupendous gift of life like a big chunk of watermelon, letting the sweet pink flesh melt in your mouth, and as for the rest, spit it out? Why gnaw away dolefully on seeds and rind?
Two years and many more ups and downs later, I continue to believe that nothing prevents a Christian from following the apostle Paul's charge to rejoice in the Lord always. We're also exhorted to always have hope (Psalm 71:14), to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17), to be always giving thanks (Ephesians 5:20), and to keep all [God's] commands always (Deuteronomy 5:29). Would Scripture set such high standards if they weren't possible? Jesus even said, Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). The God of the Bible is a God of absolutes.
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Consider the matter of love. Does anyone argue that we should love sometimes but not all the time? No, love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (1 Corinthians 13:7).
Or what about freedom? According to Jesus, If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Do you want a little bit of freedom, or do you want to be free indeed? The Christian graces are not for sometimes but for always.
The same holds for joy. God wants us to be joyful indeed, rejoicing in Him always. The moment we hear this, we get stuck on that little word always, and our hearts sink. And so we overlook the key phrase in the Lord. Nowhere does the Bible exhort us to do anything in our own strength, but only in the Lord. It would be cruel to expect anyone to be always happy apart from God. But in the Lordwhy not? Who wouldn't be overjoyed with a God who has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3)? In the words of a Christmas carol, Why should men on earth be so sad / Since our Redeemer made us glad? If you have Christ, why not rejoice? If you don't have Christ, why not open your heart to Him?
Any happiness we think we've produced for ourselves will soon fade. The real thing comes from Beyond. Indeed it's the essence of joy to know that the Beyond is somehow contained within us. Knowing this, we know too that there will be no end to our joy, for we're connected to a Source that is limitless and eternal. Far from originating joy, humans are meant to be like an echo, reverberating with God's joy and sending it back to Him. The very word rejoice contains (in the prefix re) this idea of over again or back. The message of joy bears repeating, for in this dark world we need to hear about joy again and again. Paul obviously thought so when he wrote from a prison cell, I will say it again: Rejoice! True joy is tireless. It's like a little child squealing, Do it again, Daddy! to which our heavenly Daddy replies heartily, Yes, let's do it again! And again and again!
September 27/2007
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