There can be almost as much joy in the anticipation of a good thing as there is in the experience of the thing itself.  Jim Daly, President of Focus on the Family, tells about his family’s yearly summer vacation. Each year, Jim and his wife take the boys camping. But the trip is preceded by months of anticipation. The family looks at maps of the areas where they intend to hike. They look for waterfalls, lookouts, interesting places. The actual camping experience only lasts a week, but the anticipation of the camping week builds for several months. As the trip [...]

Preachers have made much about the difference between joy and happiness. They say that joy is a steady inner condition of the heart, whereas happiness is an up-and-down response to conditions on the ground. “Nothing can steal your joy, but happiness depends on circumstances,” sayeth the preacher.  But what does the word of God say? Philippians 2:19-30 “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. 20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek their [...]

The theme of JOY is more prevalent in the book of Philippians than any other book in the Bible. The book can be divided into eight major sections and each one contains a key statement on the subject of joy. The first section (1:1-11) teaches us that when Christians invest themselves in partnership with other Christians, joy is the eventual return. The second section (1:12-18) teaches us that joy goes to the runner who is obsessed with advancing the gospel. When effective evangelism and discipleship has become a person’s passion, happiness is the reward. The third section (1:19-26) teaches us [...]

There are few things in life that are invincible. The mightiest nation might still be conquered, whether by an enemy’s resolve or by an internal rotting away of what made that nation strong in the first place. The best sports team is sometimes only one injury away from becoming one of the worst. There are countless people who can testify that they once sat upon a mountain of wealth but now sit upon the cold hard ground of homelessness or in a cold jail cell. Few things in life are invincible. It seems that unfettered joy is therefore unattainable, since [...]

Where is your happy place? Would you be happy to spend the next year of your life sitting in your happy place, be it on the shore or in the mountains, doing absolutely nothing for that entire year? When life has gotten way too busy, it’s easy to imagine that a year like that would indeed make you very happy. But nothing could be further from the truth. Paul found his happy place in a cold Roman prison cell. How can this be? “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance [...]

The Grinch was a loner. His cat-like face matched his propensity to slink off by himself the way cats like to do. The Grinch’s only friend was a pet dog, but the dog-like disposition of his little buddy actually served to illustrate just how miserable the Grinch was. The dog gave the Grinch an outlet for his anger. He was the whipping boy. But except for the moments when the pot-bellied green guy was lashing out at him, the dog was a happy little fella, and thus provided a stark contrast to the bitter Grinch. They were quite a pair, [...]

On his radio show, Dennis Prager devotes an hour a week to the subject of happiness. The subject has proven important enough to fill the hour week after week, year after year. Prager has a lot of good things to say about the subject, perhaps the most important of which is that being a happy person is a moral responsibility. To walk around as grumpy as Eeyore is to have a draining effect on others, which is a profoundly unloving thing to do. Plus, it is an affront to the God who made us for joy.  But of what [...]

This morning I sat across the table from a charismatic faith healer. He excitedly told a story of encountering a paraplegic in a park. As his story goes, back then, he was not yet mature in his belief that "it is always God's will to heal; healing in this life is promised in the atonement; we just need to grow in faith to be able to receive it." So, when he saw the man in the wheelchair, he couldn't muster the courage to approach. However, after passing the man several times as he strolled his laps around the park, [...]

The human frame was not made to live in constant crisis mode. Adrenaline can give a needed boost in the event of a crisis, but adrenaline is a toxin in the system if it pulses there for too long. Living in perpetual crisis mode is sure to produce anxiety problems and may even result in emotional or physical breakdown.  Somehow I suspect the media isn’t worried about our wellbeing. They have news to sell, and nothing sells like a crisis. In 2020, they had four major ones for sale. Let’s consider these in a better light. Let’s ditch crisis [...]