Joy Grounded in Knowledge

Joy in Second Place

The Apostle Paul writes to the church at Galatia that the fruit of the Spirit is, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV). I would love to chat with the Apostle Paul over coffee and ask at least two questions: “Did you intend to list joy behind love?” And two, “Is joy realistic in our twenty-first-century time?”

Joy seems difficult to grasp with our fingers and our minds. What is this joy that the Apostle Paul speaks of? One source defines joy as experiencing gladness, regardless of life circumstances. Is it possible to have joy or to experience genuine gladness in such a broken and quickly paced world as ours?

Is it possible to have joy or to experience genuine gladness in such a broken and quickly paced world as ours?

In the moving novel Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, it is obvious that the younger, sickly brother Reuben greatly admires his older brother Davy, especially Davy’s hunting prowess. After Davy carefully and masterfully shoots an elusive and lone Canada goose, his younger brother describes the moment: “His right index finger is just whitening on the trigger [of his Winchester], and on his face is nothing at all but the knowledge that the goose is his. Not confidence—I understand confidence. What Davy had was knowledge.”

Like Davy, we have knowledge. We can experience joy in our twenty-first-century context because we have knowledge of a doting and deeply caring Heavenly Father. So, we know our joy is not baseless—it is not a Pollyannaish emotion. Rather, we can experience real joy in a broken and quickly paced world as ours because we know these three always true principles: (1) our union with Christ is unshakeable; (2) God’s acts of faithfulness in our near and distant pasts are uncountable. And finally (3), we live now in hope of residing in our new reality.

Our Union with Christ

We are saved by Christ’s generous sacrifice. One benefit of his generosity is what the Apostle Paul refers to as being in Christ Jesus. He uses this phrase in his opening salutation to the church at Philippi, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons” (Philippians 1:1-2). But what does this expression mean? These words mean that all Christians have a “faith-union” with Christ, the second person of the Trinity, because of God’s initiated salvation.

Pause and reflect on that truth.

Our union with Christ is a forever marriage. Our union with Christ means he goes where we go; he is our always-present traveling companion. Nothing or no one can shake our union with Christ—it is permanent. The Apostle Paul speaks of this permanency and the security of this union when he writes,

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

‘For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-38, NRSV).

This means that Jesus is always our security blanket. Our union with Jesus means he feels our pains and shares our joys.

Our union with Christ means he goes where we go; he is our always-present traveling companion. Nothing or no one can shake our union with Christ—it is permanent.

Uncountable Acts of Faithfulness

Charles Spurgeon writes in Grace Abounding in a Believer’s Life, “Take out your pen and quickly write down all that he has given you. You may sit down quickly but you will not rise speedily, for the full account could never be written.”

Have you ever sat down to recount some or all that God has done for you in the past? Many of us have not because of our hurried and busied lives. Many of us have not because we are too preoccupied with worry. Hurried lives and lives preoccupied with worry are joy-drainers. However, if we take a few quiet moments to recount a few of the instances of God’s faithfulness, of his past rescue missions and many restorations, we will be glad and worry less—and we might experience joy.

In this fast-paced culture, I often develop amnesia of God’s past acts of faithfulness on my behalf and my family’s behalf; so, I journal his past acts of faithfulness. Father Abraham could not count the grains of sand to number his descendants (Genesis 22:17); we cannot count the acts of God’s faithfulness on our behalf. Many of them are unseen, or we are oblivious to many of his acts of faithfulness. As I reflect and review what I journal, a joy-induced smile comes to my face, and I say to myself, “Luke, God brought you through that sticky situation, and he brought you through that other sticky situation,” and that original joy-induced smile on my face grows larger.

Pause and reflect on God’s faithfulness in your past, you might utter a joyful noise or sing aloud off-key, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” And more grounds for joy: God is faithful to us even when we are not faithful to him (2 Timothy 2:11-13). We can have a joyful repose because our doting and deeply caring Heavenly Father does not change, which means he will remain faithful to us through all the thick and thin cycles of life.

Hope of a New Reality

Paul embraced an audacious hope —a hope that was unseen. Paul expressed this hope by his use of the phrase, “day of Christ” (Phil 1:6, 10; 2:16). This phrase pointed ahead to a new heavens and new earth reality. This new and coming reality, writes the Apostle John, will be a land where heartache and disappointment will not exist (Revelation 21:4).

We can have a disposition of joy now because the “day of Christ” is coming and because we already have one foot into this new reality. That’s why Paul wrote, “As citizens in heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1:27). We have a dual citizenship now, because of our shared hope of “the day of Christ” (or Christ’s return) and his reign and his presence in the new heavens and new earth. Maybe this knowledge of our future with Christ is why Woodley, an enslaved person, believed this: “No matter the suffering, life on earth was only a tick on God’s clock: heaven was an eternity.” Woodley was the grandfather of Dr. Walter Turnbull, Founder of the Boys Choir of Harlem (see his book, Lift Every Voice: Expecting the Most and Getting the Best from All God’s Children). Joy is not grounded in our broken reality; our joy is grounded in being with God, our Father, for eternity. There is nothing that compares with the joy of being a full-time resident of a “land where joys will never end” writes Albert E. Brumley, the hymn writer of “I’ll Fly Away.”

Together, knowledge of and living by these always true principles serve as a ballast during our life and workplace disappointments, so that we can have a joyful repose that everything will be alright. Shock absorbers are devices that help to control the impact and rebound movement of our vehicle’s springs and suspension. Similarly, joy functions like car shock absorbers in our lives. After experiencing a setback or bump in the road, joy helps us to weather the impact and rebound because these setbacks force us to pause to remember and reflect and repeat: “God has come through before, he will do it again.”

Together, knowledge of and living by these always true principles serve as a ballast during our life and workplace disappointments, so that we can have a joyful repose that everything will be alright.

Sometimes this joy is emotional—like laughing out loud. My little brother died in April 2025. My sister-in-law wrote this while talking about her grief, “This whole grief thing is a [mess] show, unpredictable, and somehow still hilarious in the darkest ways. So yes, I’ll laugh through the pain.” Joy is our ability to laugh not at the pain but rather through the pain. Laughter amid interactions with a difficult co-worker is an expression of joy and trust that ‘The King of Kings has got this and me.’ Sometimes, as you think and remember, you might express this joy spontaneously in the assembly of fellow believers or as you drive to work or do laundry.

Joy is our ability to laugh not at the pain but rather through the pain.

It takes trust in God to have joy. But how can we cultivate this fruit of joy?

Cultivating Joy

Like a garden must be tilled, weeded, fertilized, or cultivated to bring forth edible produce, we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in cultivating the fruit of joy. Let me briefly suggest three ways to cultivate this fruit of joy.

1) Practice the Sabbath Intentionally. I suggest deliberately practicing the Sabbath. While on your Sabbath, practice some silence and solitude. Sit in quiet and begin thinking about where you are and where you have been. I am guessing that the Apostle Paul, a person like us, did this frequently. That’s why he was content whether he had plenty or whether he had little (Phil 4:11-13). Paul can have joy because, regardless of his circumstances, God was faithful. Paul says do not worry in Philippians 4:6, because he knew that worry and discontentment would drain our life of joy. Reflecting on our past and our present should usher in peace, less worry, and more contentment and joy.

2) Preach the Gospel to Ourselves and Others. Our joy is rooted in the veracity and beauty of the gospel. Notice throughout this article, I used plural pronouns: we, our, us. In other words, we must not only remind ourselves of the gospel, but we must also allow others to remind us of the gospel. The worries of life can cause us to displace or forget our knowledge of the gospel. Preaching the gospel to ourselves by memorizing Scripture, by creating passwords from a memorable sermonic truth, or by faithfully reading God’s word aloud and journaling your responses can help us remember.

3) Continuously Fall in Love with Jesus. Follow the Apostle Paul’s example in Philippians 3:10–his great desire was to “know Christ.” This knowing certainly includes facts about Christ—his age, his food tastes, his parents and family. However, Paul means much more. He wanted to know Christ personally and intimately. Fall in love with our Savior and Lord by reflecting often on his beautiful attributes—his tenderness, his graciousness, his unwavering faithfulness, and his unhurriedness. And fall in love with our personal Savior and Lord by privately sharing your deepest secrets, worries, and concerns with him. Then listen for his soft whispers of hope.

Christian joy is not rooted in fantasy, but rather in what the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer referred to as “True Truth”—God’s Word. Real, authentic joy is possible in this broken and fast-paced world as we grow in knowledge of God’s Word. Our joy is not contingent upon our ever-changing circumstances. Our joy is based on our doting and caring Father who never changes. Such knowledge gives us a certain “blessed assurance.” Perhaps, that’s why the Apostle Paul, while imprisoned (Phil 1:12-15), said to the church members at Philippi several times, “Rejoice Always!”

Our joy is not contingent upon our ever-changing circumstances. Our joy is based on our doting and caring Father who never changes.

As we continually know our personal God and live the gospel moment by moment, may floods of joy overwhelm our souls like the sea billows roll.