Years ago, a young man we met on the streets of Europe found Christ. A few months later he stood up to testify to his newfound faith. “I’ve been running away from God for years,” he said, “but I’ve discovered he has longer legs than I have!” I ‘married’ the thought to these words:
Sorrow would bury us
Because sorrow is the undertaker.
Joy is Jesus - Jesus is the overtaker
Who overtakes the undertaker
And dresses our spirit in a garment of praise!
Joy is Jesus -
God in Galilean cloth
Touching our lives—
Offering us life!
And making our hearts smile.
Don't try to run away from the Lord. Remember He has longer legs than you have!
If joy is Jesus, then it follows that the better you know Him the more joy you will experience! Joy is, as someone has said, “The infallible evidence of the presence of God.”
So when the wind blows and the dark night begins, joy never stops being joy. Stay close, make sure there is nothing between you and your Savior, and your soul will survive the thunderclouds.
I thought an acrostic might help us further think about joy in our own lives.
J is for justification.
That means God makes me “Just as if I’d never sinned!” Now there’s a cause for joy!
O is for ordinary.
Ordinary people can experience joy. It is not just for the super shiny saints we see around the Christian scene. He wants everyone’s soul to tap dance!
Y is for young.
Joy keeps our souls young. It doesn’t matter how old we are in years, joy is the secret to happiness. When heaven comes down and invades our souls in the shape of Jesus, joy will not be denied.
I remember sitting alone by a fire in a small cottage in England. My husband had just left for three month’s work, and my Dad had been diagnosed with cancer. Our daughter had fallen off a donkey and broken her arm, and I’d gotten the mumps from our kids! I was trying to feel sorry for myself, but I couldn’t. There was far too much joy enlightening my heart. Jesus was there. He came near, and promised “never to leave me nor forsake me.” Oh Joy!
May you know Him in all His fullness of joy!
