Fighting Off a Joyless Life
The Garden
When a gardener plants a seed, it is impossible for it to immediately bloom into a vegetable the next day. There are two things one can learn from gardening: it takes time and it takes constant, intentional care. Gardening is a slow but rewarding process. It’s not going to happen overnight and miraculously blossom into plump watermelons and lucious lettuce the next day. This process is going to take days, weeks, or even months for it to be ready for harvest. Gardening is also an intentional responsibility that involves the gardener’s constant care from making sure it has enough sunlight, plucking out the weeds, and watering the plant. If the gardener doesn’t take care of the garden, the early stages of the plant will soon wither and die.
Joy in God is like taking care of a plant in our garden. It’s precious. It reaps a lot of fruit and is so lifegiving. Yet like the watermelon and lettuce, it can’t grow if we don’t give it time and intentional care. It can be a seed of hope in our life. We can taste and see the beginning fruits of joy in the Lord. But it can soon wither and fade away if we don’t take steps into cultivating it.
Why a Joyless Life is Possible
The problem is not that joy in God can’t sustain itself. It can. But the reason why it seems to fade in our life is because of our sinful nature. So how does this connect with our lack of joy in God as Christians? Well, it has everything to do with it. Our lack of longing for God is not because there is a deficit in God. Or that there is something wrong with Him. It is because there is still something wrong with us. Believers are no longer slaves to sin, and it has no power to master us (Rom. 6:14). But this doesn’t mean we are exempt from experiencing temptation to sin nor its effects because we aren’t in our perfect glorified bodies yet. This implies that our world will always be in a state of decay until the new heavens and earth. The natural reality is that created order needs constant repair. It is consistently breaking down since sin entered this world. It’s similar to how an apple left outside for too long will naturally become soft and rot. It’s like how a room becomes dusty even though it is untouched.
Joy that we find in God can eventually crumble and break down if we don’t do anything to maintain or cultivate it. You have to pursue it. However, don’t be discouraged though. Pursuing joy can grow within time and intentional care. These are three ingredients that can help joy flourish in your life.
Prepare a Life-Giving Environment
First, prepare a good environment for joy to grow by surrounding yourself with likeminded people, the local church.
During COVID when the whole world was on lockdown, I decided to grow sunflowers. The soil was perfect. The seeds were generously scattered throughout so that they wouldn’t be in close proximity to one another. I consistently watered them every morning and waited to see them sprout. However, nothing grew. That’s when I realized that the sunflowers were in a shaded area. They suffered from the lack of sunlight. There were no warm beams of sun rays shining through. Though I did everything right to plant the seeds, the environment failed its growth.
Likewise, Christians who deprive themselves from the local church and a Christian community will end up being like the sunflower that never grew. Their joy in God will wither away because it can’t grow on its own in isolation and apart from God’s people. Environment deeply matters. It powerfully shapes us for better or for worse. Are you barely surviving from the few times you’ve joined your church worship service and ministries? Or are you thriving and basking yourself in the beautiful blessing of your brothers and sisters in Christ every week? Believers are united in Jesus and are the physical embodiment of God’s presence here on earth. Ephesians 2:19-22 says,
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
Do you ever yearn for God to physically be here and comfort you when you’re going through a hard time? Do you desire to hear him speak audibly to you and encourage you when you face your doubts? Here’s some great news for you. God is dwelling by his Spirit in your local church. You will feel and see His presence manifest itself when His people come together, worship together, fellowship together, pray together, cry together, encourage together, and so much more. This is only possible because His spirit, the Holy Spirit, has made a home in our bodies and marks us as God’s child when we hear and receive the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13-14). So when we come together as the church, there is something mysteriously powerful and beautiful happening. It is not just a hangout gathering of people who share the same hobbies. It is a supernatural, God given community because of the supernatural Holy Ghost, God’s own presence, who lives in the believers. God uses his people, the universal Church (all those who believe in Jesus everywhere) and the local church, to be the hands and feet of Jesus. In other words, He uses others to physically be next to you and comfort you through their hugs, or He uses others to affirm and encourage you when you are doubtful. He can also use you to edify and encourage others as well. Instead of resorting to isolation, remember the gift of the church. It is for the building up for your faith.
“So as we come together as the church, there is something mysteriously powerful and beautiful happening. It is not just a hangout gathering of people who share the same hobbies. It is a supernature, God given community because of the supernatural Holy Ghost.”
When you think that you can grow apart from attending church, or that your faith is just a personal one, or that you can join church virtually in bed while singing worship songs – you can’t. Environment is necessary. It is the incubator that keeps our joy alive and warm because we feel God’s presence among His people. It is the preparation for the seed of joy to take root in your heart and grow.
Practical Application
If you are attending church every Sunday, find other ministries to join throughout the weekdays. This might look like attending the Bible Study group on Wednesdays, being more active in the youth or young adult gatherings, signing yourself up for discipleship or small groups at your church, or even staying a bit longer after Sunday service to talk with others. If you haven’t attended church in a long time, now is not too late. Find a local church near you and check what times their service is, or make the effort to save Sundays to join your home church again.
Pull Out the Weeds
Secondly, search through the weeds in your heart and sever anything that prevents joy in God from growing.
Have you ever considered why your grandparents, or parents, or gardeners pull out the weeds in their yards and gardens? It’s because these plants do more harm than good. They steal the nutrients of a good plant and hinder it from growing. Essentially, they slow down the process, can even kill, and overtake the plant. One’s joy in God can be slowed down, killed, and overtaken by the unhealthy, damaging, life and joy sucking habits and lovers.
“There are lovers aside from God that harbor deep into the abyss of our hearts. These are things that make us feel good about ourselves where we taste the little moment of a synthetic heaven that is completely stripped away from God.”
It is no wonder that the book of Colossians heavily mentions this idea of “putting to death” what is earthly in us (Col. 3:5-10). There is always a constant war and battle happening inside. There are lovers aside from God that harbor deep into the abyss of our hearts. These are things that make us feel good about ourselves where we taste the little moment of a synthetic heaven that is completely stripped away from God. It’s those explicit, provocative videos you return to watch on your phone for the longing of physical intimacy. It’s that friend of yours that you can’t go a day without texting and seeing because you don’t know who you are apart from them. It’s that guilty pleasure of indulging yourself in eating the best of the best foods instead of delighting in Creator for satisfaction. It’s the love and desire for security in your money where you can’t help but work overtime and chase the American dream of having the best house, the best job, and the best children because you think it’ll give you the joy you’ve always wanted. The list goes on. But these are just a couple of the weeds in our life that suck the real joy we find in God. We can’t grow if we continue to hold onto these lovers in our life. The very thing that we may find our comfort and joy in, that is apart from God himself, can be the very thing that suffocates us until real joy vanishes.
Practical Application
Reflect upon the things you spend the most time doing throughout the day. Think about the things you spend the most money on. You will find that they are what matters the most in your life. Slowly start to cut off and wean yourself from these things that don’t draw you closer to God. You can do this by resisting the urge and temptation to turn back to the old life that stole and depleted real joy in God. Pray to the Holy Spirit to give you strength to sever these things in your life and to put to death what is earthly that bears no fruit.
Nurture the Seed
Lastly, replace the vacant parts of your heart with God and the things of God.
When someone removes something in their life, there is a vacancy. This is the step in the gardening process where the gardener takes the time to water and care for the plants well being. Once they have prepared a perfect environment and have done a diligent job in protecting it from invasive weeds, the last important step is to take time in nurturing it. This is the moment they research good resources that can help the plant thrive, invest into sprays that save its leaves from being eaten by bugs, and using compostable material to enrich the soil.
In Ephesians 5:18, Paul admonishes the Ephesians from being drunk on wine. Instead, he encourages them to be filled with the Spirit. Isn’t that such an interesting contrast? The greek definition of the word “filled” in this verse means to “fill up a hollow vessel.” He is essentially saying, don’t let wine influence and dictate your actions. This is because when one is drunk, they will start to act and be reckless. Their body becomes a vessel that they no longer have control over their actions and speech. Instead, the wine becomes this substance that fills them up and controls them. So when Paul contrasts that with being filled with the Spirit, he kinda of is alluding to the fact of “be drunk” with the Holy Spirit. Your body is a vessel for the Spirit to dwell in, therefore, let the Holy Spirit influence and dictate your actions in life. It is no longer you in control of what you do, but the Spirit in you that can change, transform, and influence you actions and speech. Paul uses this intense (and very realistic) phrase to help us see how to respond to the Holy Spirit.
“We need help to carry out the things that we naturally cannot do by ourselves. That’s only possible through the Holy Spirit.”
We really need help from the Holy Spirit to bear the fruit of joy. Because we are not in the perfect and glorified bodies yet, we still struggle with sin and it’s innate nature in us. It is impossible to do the things of the Spirit (like loving others, being patient, kind, etc) because our body and flesh are always at war with one another (Gal. 5:16-17). We need help to carry out the things that we naturally cannot do by ourselves. That’s only possible thorough the Holy Spirit. Life walking with the Holy Spirit means that it can bear the fruit of joy and many others (Gal. 5:22). So don’t be discouraged that you can’t do this whole thing by yourself. You’ve been given a helper (John 14:26).
Practical Application
Make sure to take time in investing in the good things that will help your joy thrive in God and walk with the Spirit. Stay near and connected into His word, the Bible. Read the pages of Scripture, and it’ll restore the broken cisterns of your heart’s longings. This gives way and opportunities to the Spirit to illuminate Scripture, help you understand, and apply God’s truth in your life. Pour your heart to God in prayer whether that’s crying to Him about the things that have hurt you, venting your frustrations, sitting in silence of the grandeur of His presence, and sharing every detail of your life with Him just because you know He’s listening. When you invest into your personal and intimate relationship with the Creator, you will start to find that the things you use to turn to for happiness and comfort in the world will soon diminish.
A Garden of Eternity
Cultivating joy requires all three of these ingredients to thrive. If you only do two but not the other, then it won’t be successful. The beautiful thing is that this journey is not a lonely one. There is a helper, the Holy Spirit, who is there with you that’ll help guide and fill you with this everlasting joy in God. He is fertilizer to the soil that will aid you in growing more joy in your life, but it takes you to intentionally put in effort to help invest into it. Soon, this seed of joy that was planted a couple days, weeks, or months ago from that first real good encounter with God will soon take root in your life and flourish because you choose to diligently cultivate it. It will harvest into the garden of eternity.
