Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
There's a word in here that is so special to me- thrill. One of the times that word comes to mind is during the advent season, when we get a little bit closer to Christmas. My favorite Christmas song is "O Holy Night." In that song is a lyric, "A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices." A thrill of hope. There is a thrill. It's a shot in the arm. It's an injection of goodness. In this verse it says, "You thrill me, Lord." And the response of this is to be full of joy. "I sing for joy because of what you've done."
The Difference Between Happiness and Joy
This word joy is important as well, because you know that there's a difference between happiness and joy, right? Sometimes those things overlap and they have similar tendencies, but there's a difference. Happiness changes when it comes to joy. I'll tell you a quick story to show you how this is true.
I remember I was in a coffee shop one time and it was pouring down rain, and a woman came running into the store and she went right up to the counter and said to the barista, "Did anybody find a purse?" Immediately all of us in the coffee shop started looking around our seats to see if we saw anything. The person behind the counter was a little bit frazzled and said, "Okay, well, let me run in the back and let me check it out and see if I could find something back there." They came back out with a purse, and everybody was sort of taking a deep breath because this woman was clearly frazzled. He handed over the purse. She opened it up and quickly she stated, "This is not my purse."
A Roller Coaster of Emotions
Now, what I didn't tell you is when she came in, we all felt the sadness that she was feeling. We all kind of connected to it. Immediately she came in in a posture of sadness because her circumstances would dictate that. Then when he came out with the purse, I could see her happiness. She was lifting her head. Her posture showed that she was moving from sadness to happiness. But when she opened the purse and realized it wasn't hers, she went right back down to sadness again.
Now there was a girl that was working in the back who sheepishly came out right after this little scene was unfolding, and she said, "Ma'am, we have one more purse back here." And she hands over the purse, and thankfully it was indeed the woman's purse. She ripped it open and she grabs her phone out of it and she calls and says, "They found it. They found it." She ran out of the store, never even said thank you. I think about in that coffee shop how each one of us who were witnessing the scene unfold felt the roller coaster of emotion. She came in in sadness. We felt the sadness. The guy comes out with the purse. We get lifted up with her. She goes right back down in the dumps when it's not her purse. But then the purse is found. We all rejoice.
Joy Remains
But see, those were circumstances that led to a response being high and low, happy and sad. The difference should be that joy remains. Now, the reason that joy should remain regardless of your circumstances is it's not a human-sourced thing. Joy is a fruit that comes from the Spirit of God. What that means is, though happiness and sadness can change according to our circumstances, our joy can remain regardless of what's happening, because it doesn't come from us. It comes from God. Let's rejoice in what God has done, experiencing the thrill of hope of Him in our lives today.