Joy, Gratitude, and Purpose

Scripture — Isaiah 51:3 (NRSV)

For the LORD will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places,
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the LORD;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Devotion

Joy and happiness are closely related. Sometimes we even equate them. But joy isn’t the same as happiness. An article in Harvard Health Publishing observes,

Joy and happiness are often used interchangeably. However, happiness technically refers to the pleasurable feelings (emotions) that result from a situation, experience, or objects, whereas joy is a state of mind that can be found even in times of grief or uncertainty. Thus, we can work on cultivating joy independent of our circumstances. (emphasis added)

It’s not wrong to be happy or to seek happiness. If you are living into your purpose for life, you will feel happy at times… often, I hope! But joy is so much more than feeling happy.

My Fuller Seminary colleagues at the Thrive Center for Human Development offer wise insights into the nature and experience of joy. Professor Pamela Ebstyne King and Frederic Defoy note in “Joy as a Virtue” that “joy involves knowing, feeling, and enacting what matters most.” Similarly, Rebecca Baer, a Thrive Fellow, observes in “Deep Fulfillment Through the Practice of Joy” that “the experience of joy is intricately tied to how we define what is good in the world: we experience joy when we celebrate things in ourselves, relationships, or surroundings as being truly good.”

Joy often goes hand-in-hand with gratitude. When we experience joy, we are moved to give thanks, not so much for the experience of joy as for the goodness on which it is based.

We can see a close connection between joy and gratitude in many biblical passages. For example, Isaiah 51:3 says,

For the LORD will comfort Zion;

     he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

     her desert like the garden of the LORD;

_joy and gladness_ will be found in her,

     _thanksgiving_ and the voice of song (emphasis added).

Then, in 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul writes, “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?” (1 Thes 3:9).

Joy inspires and finds appropriate expression in gratitude. This makes perfect sense if joy has to do with what matters most and what is truly good.

Though joy can lead to gratitude, sometimes that direction is reversed. Author and professor Brené Brown writes,

The relationship between joy and gratitude was one of the important things I found in my research. I wasn’t expecting it. In my 12 years of research on 11,000 pieces of data, I did not interview one person who had described themselves as joyful, who also did not actively practice gratitude.

But, according to Brown, gratitude doesn’t just follow from joy. “Instead,” she writes, “practicing gratitude invites joy into our lives.”

I can testify to the truth of what Brown’s research has shown. For many years, I have arisen early on Thanksgiving Day to make a list in my journal of all the things from the last year for which I am thankful. When I begin my list, I don’t feel particularly joyful. Mainly I’m trying to wake up and remember what happened in the last year. But as I jot down that for which I am grateful, offering thanks to the Lord for each item, I can feel joy welling up inside of me. At times I’m shocked by just how grateful I am for something I had previously taken for granted and by how much gratitude-based joy overwhelms my heart.

No matter the order of the experience, whether joy leads to gratitude or gratitude leads to joy, joy and gratitude surely go hand in hand. Moreover, both individually and together, they can help us clarify and live our purpose in life.

Why? Remember that joy is related to “what matters most,” according to the article by King and Defoy cited earlier. According to Baer, joy is profoundly connected to “things in ourselves, relationships, or surroundings as being truly good.” When we pay attention to our joy, we recall the most important things in life, the best things in life, the things that really matter. By attending to our joy and gratitude, we will see more clearly what we truly want to do with our lives and why. We will clarify our purpose in life. And when we live in light of the purpose, we will experience the joy of doing what truly matters.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Accounting for Joy.