I know what you’re probably thinking: how on earth is joy a discipline? Now I just sound delusional, or am I? Here’s the deal: anyone who actually goes through life knows what I’m talking about. Especially given that we live in a world absolutely bent on squelching out all our joy.
John Piper, an eminent author and theologian, has written about this at some length, about how we as Christians are actually supposed to fight for joy. Spritual depression is a very real thing, not to be confused with emotional depression. It can come in the form of lethargy, that feeling of being stuck in a rut, like we’re wandering around in a spiritual wasteland. This is indicative of spiritual depression.
Believe me when I say that joy is absolutely a discipline. And I assure you, it is imperative that you fight for it. If you don’t believe me, then you clearly haven’t lived very long.
Strategies in the Fight for Joy
I want you to understand there is a big difference between existing and living. What I’m referring to is people who live with no purpose of any kind. People who simply go through the motions. You can’t understand what I’m talking about. Whereas people who live life intentionally, deliberately trying to live rightly, and daily work towards a goal. Whenever you attempt this, believe me, you will experience roadblocks.
In fighting for joy, it’s imperative to bear in mind what I mentioned previously about retraining neural pathways. Get the Word in, let it retrain my thoughts. Then my mind is prepared in the fight for joy. I think there really ought to be more teachings about this; we have this idea that our thoughts are somehow out of control. That we have no ability to direct our thoughts. Obviously, this is simply not the case. We certainly do have the ability to control our thoughts, and by consciously directing them, we can more effectively move our thoughts into a more righteous frame.
Next, I have to preach at myself. Listen carefully, every major athlete, every high-powered creative, every major businessman knows what I’m about to let you in on. Take control of your ‘inner voice’. Deliberately take control of your thoughts and direct the flow. Guess what happens? Your entire life becomes capable of change. A lot of neural experts have figured this out. Think of your brain as a river, if it will help. If you don’t do anything, the river will flow in the exact same direction it always has. Whereas if you make a serious effort, then you can redirect the flow wherever you need it. (Don’t think too deeply about this, it’s simply an analogy) That’s what I’m referring to by preaching at myself. Again, let me emphasize, this is not merely a spiritual thing. Even secular athletes and coaches such as Urban Meyer, LeBron James, and Mike Tyson all understand this.
Now that we’ve established this is a very real thing, and not some psychological nonsense, we must also understand what it means to do this from a Biblical perspective. As stated, virtually every high-powered organization/individual already understands the basic principle of controlling our thoughts. As believers, we have a much deeper perspective. Through using the Bible and prayer, we can reorder our thoughts into a mindset of righteousness. Earlier, I mentioned secular athletes, who are going to be approaching this without faith. As believers, we will approach this from a Biblical mindset, by deliberately re-ordering our thoughts towards the Bible, whereas the secular individuals I mentioned will be using godless techniques to achieve their ends.
Taking Every Thought Captive
For us as believers we understand that by actively taking control of our thoughts, taking them ‘captive’ as the Bible discusses is absolutely key in our fight for joy. We need to realize that this is more than just religious talk. This is a mix of both nuerology and spirituality. This is real.
Also, in fighting for joy, it actively destroying anything and everything that kills joy. If this isn’t clear, then allow me to spell it out: we’re talking about sin. Sin in all of its terrible, destructive cycles will kill joy faster than anything. I think that many of us have this idea that all of the Bible’s prohibitions against sin is meant to turn us into these austere, puritanical individuals. I think we have a fundamental misunderstanding of why sin is so awful and destructive. Sin destroys peace. Sin destroys our relationships. Sin destroys our joy. I truly think we do not even remotely understand just how terribly destructive a force sin truly is.
We’re told repeatedly by completely ignorant people in the media that sin is somehow fun. Then they turn around (also in their ignorance), and give us the ridiculous idea that being holy is about being grim and austere. I firmly believe that before there was corruption, joy was experienced unfiltered. Absolutely pure joy on tap, unending peace, now tell me something, doesn’t that sound like something we would all like to experience?
