Happiness, Despair, and Joy
Happiness
As far as happiness goes there are plenty of events to describe my year. I graduated from College, played music with my friends just about every week, proposed to the most amazing person I have ever met and shortly thereafter married her. All of these things brought me great happiness and truly made me feel like a blessed man.
Despair
I can just as easily say, however, that 2012 was the most grievous year I have ever known. I fought a nasty war within me as I was seeking to become a godly husband and came to the conclusion that I had (and still have) a lot of work to do. I watched a close friend willfully turn away from God and another flat out reject Him. Most notably earth shattering, however, was the death of my great friend and Best Man William Nolan.
Will died on July 3rd which was about a month and a half before my wedding. To say that I was devastated would be a devastating understatement. Never had I lost someone that I loved so deeply and so unexpectedly. The details of Will's life and death are truly miraculous and with permission from his parents I would love to share them in another blog but for now I will simply say that Will was only 22 years old and yet still among the wisest and most genuine of men I think I will ever know. He was a gentleman in a world that has lost the very meaning of the word. He was my friend and man...could he play a mean guitar.
A Coin Toss
If you look at the data numerically in my life (and I would bet yours) it appears that happiness is stacked just about evenly with despair and the only way to tell which is the victor is to flip a coin. So go ahead. No seriously flip a coin and see which defines your year! "Heads" and happiness wins "Tails" and well...may the odds be ever in your favor next year.
Sound ridiculous? That's because letting our experiences and circumstances define us IS ridiculous! There is a power greater than happiness or despair and it triumphs over both of them combined. I'm speaking of joy and though it is often confused with happiness it is so much different. Happiness is fleeting. Here one day and gone the next and is based solely on the circumstances of life. Joy, on the other hand, stands firm, feet planted firmly in the ground. Joy is immovable and immeasurable because it is rooted in an immovable and immeasurable God.
My Joy
In the moment I heard of Will's death I broke down and wept but somehow in the next moment I was led to praise God. With tears flowing down my face, snot running out of my nose, and with a voice that sounded more like a whimper I worshiped my God and told Him that even in the darkest moment of my life...He was still worthy. It wasn't just lip service. I believed and felt it with all of my heart and soul that God was still good. I don't say any of this with delusions of my own self righteousness because it truly wasn't me. It only could have been Christ within me that produced such joy in the lowliest of slums because only the peace of Christ can surpass such a circumstance.
If you believe that Jesus is your Savior and yet are still not familiar with the joy that I've spoken of or perhaps have only seen glimpses of it, you need to first check yourself and figure out if you have a genuine relationship with the Lord or if you're merely a byproduct of cultural circumstance. If you've come to the conclusion that you truly love Jesus, don't let his joy be hidden from you any longer! It is there within you like a tree waiting for you to pick its ripened fruit but too often we cover it up with the weeds of circumstance and sin.
However if you're not a believer...
There are no bypasses to joy without Christ. If you do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for your sins then true joy is not a possibility because it exists within that which you do not accept. Eternal joy much like eternal salvation is reserved for those that believe they have nothing to offer God and yet He paves a way for them anyways. I know it may seem naive and exclusive to some, but God desires all of His creation to turn away from sin and return to Him.
So in 2013 (and for the rest of your life) don't let your joy be determined by the uncertainty of a coin toss or the shifting circumstances of life but rather let it be determined by your Assured Circumstance which is this:
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8
