I sent the following to a friend earlier today.
May these words from Psalm 21:6 be true for you this day, “May God give you “everlasting felicity” and make you “glad with the joy of (His) presence.”
Felicity (I had to look it up) refers to a “feeling of intense happiness.” “A person feels felicity when they are supremely happy,” according to the one online dictionary. If everyone wants to be happy, why is it that we fail so miserably at it?
In a devotion from the Depree Center focused on Luke 10:17-24, Delano Sheffield writes, “If joy depends exclusively on success or authority, then responsibility or power will often be desired at the expense of the right perspective.”
That is worth dissecting
If joy depends exclusively on success or authority
then responsibility or power will often be desired
at the expense of the right perspective.”
What might be some of the “right perspectives” that I lose WHEN (not if) my joy depends exclusively on success or authority? Like me, you probably have trouble with the word, exclusively. The disciples seemed to be captured or enamored with their own success and authority in that Luke 10 passage. I have lived in the place where my own personal success and authority matter too much, are too important. Ok, what happens, “If my joy depends too much on success or authority.
I desire responsibility and power. . . and respect
When my joy depends exclusively on success or authority, here are a few things I easily lose
Love for others
Serving others
Doing the right thing
Listening
Being patient and willing to wait
You can fill in what right perspectives you might lose if your joy depends on success or authority.
What if my joy depends on gaining respect?
Then, pleasing or impressing others becomes more important than
Being alone with God
Serving anonymously
Preferring others over myself
What if joy depends on my possessions/on how much stuff I have?
Be prepared to do battle with the deadly sins of greed, envy and coveting. For my priority or my desires will be to make sure I have enough stuff. And how much would be enough?
Carl Richards in his July 4 Behavior Gap newsletter writes about envy but begins with a picture illustrating what envy feels like. Here is my version of that image.
Richards writes, “There will always be something else we don’t have that someone else does, and our envy becomes a trigger for all the bad behavior we’re supposedly trying to avoid.”
If my joy depends on having enough stuff, not only will I never have enough but I will
Be unable to rejoice in the success of others—I will envy
Want what others have—I will covet
Never be content with what God has given to me—I will be ungrateful
Be consumed with obtaining more—I will be greedy
Fear the loss of what I have
I can write about these things because I have experienced them more often than I would like. That is one reason I have found it important to begin my day being grateful for what I have and writing them down. I don’t do this every day but when I do, more often than not, I discover joy. Focusing on the good gifts we have been given. Remembering and being thankful. Jesus tells the disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven in Luke 10:20. Remember grace. Be thankful for grace. Find joy in grace. The felicity of Psalm 21:6 comes when God makes us glad with the joy of His presence.
Thank you, David, for your ponderings on joy. Good stuff!! As we know joy and happiness are not the same, but are definitely related, here is a link I recenly read on happiness. One critical component? Meaningful relationships. Thank you for your friendship.
https://bakadesuyo.com/2017/02/how-to-make-friends-as-an-adult/