Guest Post: "The Church and Joy"

[Today’s guest post is from Trey Morgan, who preaches in Childress, Texas. Trey’s blog, found here, is one of my daily reads, and includes brief but thought-provoking posts several times each week. Trey is married to Lea and they have four boys. We are grateful that Trey took the time to write this next-to-last post in our series “The Church and…”.]

I love hanging out with happy people. People who are full of joy and life are my kind of people and I find myself drawn to them.  I’ve also noticed that in the same way that I love being around joyous people, I find myself naturally avoiding people who are constantly unhappy.  I think you probably agree that most people feel the same way as I do.

If there is anyone in this world that should be joyous, it’s a Christian.  Our joy shouldn’t be dependant upon our circumstances, but upon our future.  We’re all going to have bad days. We’re all going to have daily frustrations, but our focus should be on the good, the spiritual and the future we have.  It’s all about our focus.

Sadly, too many Christians focus only on the negative things in their lives. If it’s bad, they want to dwell on it and tell about it.

“It’s my back.”

“It’s my children.”

“It’s my marriage.”

“It’s my job.”

“It’s my church.”

I still remember the place where I was standing when I heard Ms. Griper (as I like to secretly call her) say something that shocked me.  Everyone knew how much she disliked her preacher, her church and her life, because she told anyone who would listen.  As I stood there listening to her spill about what she didn’t like about the past Sunday’s worship service, she stopped and said, “You know, I don’t know why I can’t get my husband to come to church with me.”  Well, duh, I wonder.  I didn’t want to visit her church with all the bad things she was always saying so why would her husband?  There was NO joy in this woman’s life, and if you spent any time with her at all, she’d suck the joy out of your life.

There will always be people who have no joy because they choose to focus on the wrong things.  Kind of like the “One-Uppers” of this world, who no matter what, will always one-up whatever you’ve had happen with something much worse.    If you had to go to the dentist, they’ll tell you that they just had 4 root canals that same day. If your dog got hit by a car, it just so happened that their dog was mauled on the front lawn by a lion while all the kids were watching in horror of course.

It’s about focus. As a Christian we must focus on what we do have, not on what we don’t have.  Let me help you, just in case you’re not sure about what you have as a Christian…

• You have a Father in heaven who is madly in love with you.
• You have forgiveness, mercy and grace through Jesus.
• You have the gift of prayer, anywhere, anytime and any place.
• You’ve got church family that loves you and cares for you.
• You’ve got a future in heaven that no one can steal from you.

If those aren’t some great reasons to be joyous, then there’s no hope for you J.  Your focus affects your joy.  What are you focused on?

“Be full of joy always.  And again I say be full of joy.” 

~Philippians 4:4 (NCV)