Sublime Joy

Seek a blessed joy, and illuminate your paths with happiness.  Essential though is to cultivate contrite hearts and clean minds.  This is when you’re blessed with gifts of the Almighty.  You become true lights and are ideal for doing Christ’s work. Barack Obama (b. 1961), the first African American President of the United States declared, “If you're walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you will make progress.”  Our walk of faith leads to enlightened hearts.

Joys of the World

The joys of this world are fleeting.  True peace is like a weapon defeating evil.  In this world there’s degradation, sin, and fear.  But in the eyes of Christians their future is bright.  By living according to the promises of God they become faithful, kind men, and women.  They face hardships which are like pin pricks compared to the happiness awaiting them in heaven.

This world is buffeted by the winds of change.  If it isn’t war, murder, or crime, it’s found in the sensual excesses of life.  Some people hold their heads high, walk with their chests up, and are puffed up.  At best this is a way to display of vanity.  Some face struggles with broken hearts, but continue to pretend that all is well.  We can’t depend on the temptations of the flesh to build us up.  We often witness empty praise and double talk.  As if bound by fetters worldly types live in the shackles of fickleness.  A poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) observed, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”  Being true to oneself should be the aim of every Christian.

Spreading Joy

It’s beneficial to spread joy and hope in the world.  To be true to ourselves we have to live joyfully.  Being sustained by the Holy Spirit it’s for us to evangelize, and minister to others.  As lights in the world we ought to walk confidently in the midst of wolves.   As we journey through life be filled with the riches of God’s Heavenly Kingdom.  Robert H. Schuller (1926–2015), a Christian televangelist testified, “God flourished my ministry and my career of creative thinking, communicating and writing back 50 years.”  It was Schuller’s belief that Christ blessed his mission.

Comforting Joy

To find comforting joy it’s best to review the teachings of Jesus and his disciples.  Their testimonies mirror the lights of Christian living.  So in faith be steadfast in your understanding of the Word.  For on judgment day we’ll have to give an account about how we lived our lives.  We therefore look forward to his heavenly consolation when our sins are washed away.  We should embrace these spiritual beliefs and be comforted by his blessings.  

Ann Landers (1918–2002), a Chicago Sun-Times advice columnist reminded us: “Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself; the most comforting words of all; this, too, shall pass.”  With this realization we know the victory was won, and supreme blessings await us.