Joy

Last week in community group, we discussed JOY... We looked at several scriptures that talk specifically about how God is joyful. One of those verses is Zephaniah 3:17-- "the Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you with his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." I have always really liked this verse, but then we took it a step further. Basically, the summary of our discussion was this..

We, as Christians, are designed to reflect that joy back to Him and to the world. That joy isn't something we can create on our own, it is something that requires our dependence on Him! He commands us to be joyful ("rejoice in the Lord always; I say it again, rejoice!"). So if we are commanded to be joyful, it is a sin NOT to be joyful???? God has joy in ME! how could I possibly NOT have joy in HIM??!

So, this is tough. Basically, joy exceeds my circumstances. It surpasses just surface happiness. So my motto for now is "Today, I will choose joy!"