Leadership: Joyful
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24 (ESV)
Sometimes, I'm exuberantly joyful: a hands-in-the-air, clapping whoo-hoo'er. Joy is contagious in the finest way.
'The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy... All the trees of the field will clap their hands' (Isaiah 55:12).
'Let the rivers clap their hands' (Psalm 98:8).
'O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy' (Psalm 47:1).
As good fathers do, our Father loves joy.*
Other times, I'm passionately UN-joyful: a finger-pointing, clanging condemner. Mean words are contagious in the worst way.
'If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal' (1 Corinthians 13:1).
My conclusion? I need to PRACTICE joy. Before we’re told to 'Pray without ceasing' (1 Thessalonians 5:17), God reminds us we must, 'Rejoice always' (1 Thessalonians 5:16)...
Meaning we should rejoice without ceasing… even to 'Count it all joy when [we] fall into various trials' (James 1:2).
Here's another thing: life's trials aren’t just big catastrophes. Most of them are minor annoyances, like:
Late pickups, long lines, or thoughtless remarks.
Unfair acts or uninformed opinions,
Crazy drivers or forgetful servers,
Whining children, barking dogs, or phony friends.
Actors, models, and talent for Christ:
If 'The joy of the Lord is your strength' (Nehemiah 8:10), then practice joy like workouts at the gym. Because it takes some God-given muscle 'To loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free...' (Isaiah 58:6).
If you don't feel joyful, then 'Put on love' (Colossians 3:14) with a kind smile… no matter how you feel! Is this fake? Not if your effort is real.
Consider an example: you've had a bad day or face a crisis, and somebody asks you,
“How's it going?” You might say…
“Kind’a hard, but I'm counting it all joy' (then smile).
If you're speaking to a non-believer, and he asks,
“How does that work?” You say, “God”.
You've caused the questioner to pause and think. I was impressed and intrigued for decades, when Christian friends spoke of their grief with HOPE. Joy was a witness to me and my house (both of my daughters) in our B.C. years.
If you're consistently joyful, hooray! (I confess I haven’t (yet) mastered it.) If you aren’t, then let’s both practice and pray to grow in this sweet fruit of the Spirit.**
Leadership: Joyful (Part 43)
* 'Joy is the serious business of Heaven' (C.S. Lewis).
** 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control' (Galatians 5:22-23, NKJV).
** 'When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy' (Corrie Ten Boom).
NOTE: God is my Ghostwriter. If what I write is good, it’s from God! We’re ALL called to be actors (action stars) for Jesus. We’re ALL called to models of Jesus, and we ALL have gifts, talents, and callings from God– to multiply them in the world for His glory.
P.S. NO DEVOTION, PREACHER, or SERMON… can begin to replace personal time in the Bible. I wholeheartedly and clear-headedly recommend READING THE BIBLE DAILY.
WARNING: Don’t focus on favorite verses, because out of context, they’re often misinterpreted. I plead with you to READ AT LEAST 1 BIBLE CHAPTER DAILY. How long does it take? An average of 5 to 10 minutes!