Serious Joy
Jun 15 2022 - Eric Buresh
There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. - C.S. Lewis The Last Battle
As children of God, we should pursue the greatest, fullest, and longest joy that we can possibly imagine. Yes, we should want no less than permanent, unshakeable, unwavering joy, happiness, pleasure, and delight. Serious joy that cannot be lost or taken away. The temporary, here-one-moment-and-gone-the-next joy that we spend so much of our time, resources, and energy chasing is exactly the opposite of serious joy. The kind of serious joy we want is only found in one place – a knowledge of, delight in, and love for God himself. When God is our delight and our treasure, we are simultaneously satisfied by Him and He is glorified by us. We fulfill His purpose in creating us (Isaiah 43:6-7) by delighting in Him and in that very same delight we have fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11; John 15:11) This was His divine design from before the foundations of the world. It is a beautifully simple and perfect design.
Joy is not always a light, playful joy. Sometimes, there is great loss and sorrow and suffering, but joy in our Fathezr is full and complete and it is joy we can never lose. (2 Cor. 6:10; Rom. 8:35-39) When everything else is stripped away, it is this unassailable joy in God that is to His greatest glory and our greatest gain. You can take away anything you want from me, even life, and my joy remains in ever greater portions. (Philippians 1:21) This is serious joy. This is God-glorifying joy.
As we meditate on God’s design for joy, and the interaction between our joy and His glory, perhaps an allegory will provide an imperfect but helpful way to connect with God’s design:
Once upon a time long ago, in a kingdom far away, there was a young country boy of nine years whose parents had just been killed in a terrible accident on their small farm. The boy had no family, and nobody even knew he was left alone. As his food ran out on the farm, the boy began to walk down the only road he knew to try and find something to eat. After a couple of days, he came over a hill and saw spread out before him the most buildings he had ever seen, including a giant castle that towered over everything else. He knew it was the King’s castle. As the boy walked down into the city, nobody seemed to notice him walking alone. Nobody helped him. Nobody talked to him. He came to a market and asked the shop keepers for food, but they just brushed him aside. As night approached, he found a quiet place behind a stable to go to sleep. Hungry. The next day, he stole his first meal – an apple and some cut ham. He got pretty good at stealing and hiding, sleeping and stealing, surviving.
One day a few weeks later, there was a commotion in the marketplace. The boy saw many of the shopkeepers leaving their shops and heading out to the main street. He sensed an opportunity, and for the first time, he decided to try and steal money instead of just food. He entered a money-changer’s shop, looked around and, sure that nobody was there, he went into the back room and found several bags of coins. He took one bag and started out the front of the shop. He never saw the club coming. He felt a dull thud and the world went gray. He felt himself being dragged, he felt himself being tossed, he felt himself hit the ground and then the world went black. Sometime later, the young boy began to wake but he couldn’t open his eyes. He heard horses and he felt the jostling of a carriage. He heard men’s voices. They came to a stop. One man said, “Clean him up, get him something to eat, and put him in the room next to mine.” Another man picked him up from the floor of the carriage and carried him into a building. A few minutes later, warm water was pouring over his head, and he opened his eyes. A man was washing the blood off his head. The boy asked, “where am I?” The man said, “You’re in the King’s castle. The King will see you when we’re done.” The boy got cleaned up, had a simple but warm meal, and was escorted to a giant room with a fireplace and an enormous bed. He sat down by the fire, scared and tired, and waited.
After what seemed like forever, there was a knock at the door, and a man with a dark beard walked into the room without saying a word and sat down on the second chair by the fire. The boy intuitively knew this was the King, and just sat silent. The King finally said, “you were caught stealing. I sent men to find your parents. We found them. I’m very sorry for your loss. You’ll live with me now. I’m going to take care of you, and I’ll show you the path of life. From now on, I will call you son, and you will call me father. This is not a dishonor to your first father but is recognition of who you are to me and who I will be to you. Tonight, go to sleep, tomorrow is the first day of a new beginning. Your old life is done and your new life as my son begins.”
The boy and the King spent the next ten years doing all the things one might imagine a son and father doing together. They had many adventures. They had many lessons. The King loved his new son deeply, and taught the boy everything he knew about life, character, love, wisdom, strength, and leading a kingdom. Day by day, the young man came to understand the depth of character and love in this new father King, and he grew to love him more than anything. He enjoyed nothing more than to be with the King. He loved to just sit in his court and listen to him talk to his people. He loved to walk with him in the city. It was his greatest delight to be with the King, and it didn’t really matter what they were doing. The two were bound together as though they were one.
Shortly after the young man’s nineteenth birthday, he overheard news that a great evil was bearing down on the kingdom -- an evil bent on ruling the entire earth with a great horde under its command. The young man hurried to his father, already knowing what his father would be doing. He found the King by himself in the armory – sharpening his sword. The boy asked simply, “Father, what are you going to do?” The King responded, “I am going to stand in the gap between my people and evil. I will hold the evil back and I will not let it overcome you. And when the battle is finally won, I will return to you and we will be together again. You have my word and my promise as your father and your King. Until I return, I will send you letters so that you will have my words with you at all times.” The young man almost shouted, “Father, I want to go fight with you.” The King looked gently at his son for a moment and replied, “I want you with me too and you would be valuable, but I need you to listen to me closely. When I saw you lying in the street, a thief, destitute, with no parents and no way to live, I chose you. I loved you. I called you my son, a son of the King. You didn’t deserve anything but justice. I chose you not because of who you were, but because of who I am.”
“Now, son, I need you to stay here and show my people who I am. For their own good, help them to understand and remember me, and to delight in their King.” The young man thought in silence about his father’s request for a long moment. He knew the King wasn’t selfish and wasn’t proud. He knew the King loved his people deeply. So, why would he be seeking his own glory at a time like this? Then, like the sun rising, realization dawned. If the people of the kingdom could find their delight and joy in the King, no one could take that treasure away from them. The people would have an unshakeable joy and they could withstand any challenge that the evil power could bring until the King returned and brought full peace and joy and pleasure with him. If they loved and treasured their King above all else, the people could suffer great loss with a confident expectation that the King would return to them and set everything right. Evil simply can’t defeat a people of such a secure foundation. “Father, I am who you say I am, your son. I trust your promises, that you will not let the evil overcome us, and that you will return to us. I love you and I understand this important task that you’ve assigned me. I want to do it well. How do I show people who you are so that they delight in their King?”
The King spoke slowly, “The most important and first thing is that you love, delight in, and treasure me with all your being. (Matt. 22:37-38) You find joy in me always, and let me say that again, joy, not grudging duty. (Philippians 4:4) Treasure my letters, read about my protection and provision, read about how much I love you and love my people. (1 Peter 2:2) Share my letters with the people as well – do not hide them only for yourself. Go out among the people as much as you can. Tell them your story – how you were a destitute thief lying in the mud and I made you a son of the King. Remind them that your story demonstrates who I am, and that I love all my people. Show them how much you love me and that you find your joy and delight in me. This will bring me great honor among the people.”
“Whatever you do, use your words and actions to show your delight in me. (1 Cor. 10:31) Be thankful in everything. (I Thes. 5:17) When gifts and provisions arrive, remind the people that these good things come from their King. (James 1:17) Work tirelessly to make sure everyone is cared for to the best of your ability with the provisions I send you so that the people see your love for them, and they will delight in me because of your love. (Matt. 5:16) And this is the final thing – do not be surprised when fiery trials come upon you and the people as though something strange is happening. (1 Peter 4:12) We are at war with an immense and evil power. There are going to be times of suffering, times of disease, times when the provisions fail, times when I do not send gifts, and times when your neighbors turn against you wrongfully to work for the enemy. These times will bring sorrow and pain, but in them, your joy and delight in me becomes even more evident so that more of my people will follow in your footsteps of joy. So, when all else is stripped away, love me, take joy in me, be satisfied with me and show this to my people so that they also can persevere in the confident and joy filled expectation of my return. (Romans 5:1-4) In your love for me, you and the people will have full joy in the suffering that will come. Joy for you in honor for me. When I return, I will make everything right and all the people will share in a victorious glory that has never been seen before as I love them and they love me with all the more passion for all that we suffered with and through each other.”
The young man cried and embraced his father. As his father spoke, the young man quietly realized how hard this war was going to be. He knew he was going to fail at times, and he knew he would lose heart at times. He also knew, though, that his father had made him an entirely new person to live for this moment and this cause. (1 Cor. 5:14-17) His father was his greatest treasure and he knew that his father’s promises would not fail. (Joshua 21:45) His father would never forsake him. (Deut. 31:6) The King would not let evil overcome him and he would sustain him to do everything the King needed him to do until the King returned and the young man would share in that perfect glory. (Rom. 8:28-30) So, the young man, with all the affection in his heart, set his face like a flint, and began the journey for the joy that was before him. This young man knew serious joy. May all who have been picked up from the mire and made sons and daughters of the King follow in his example.
The End.