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           There is a social media page called “The Church Curmudgeon” that pokes fun at the grumpiness that people have seen in church. I do not understand the curmudgeon mentality, especially in the church. The word “joy” or “rejoice” appears nearly 400 times in the Bible, and I bet the curmudgeon mentality is not mentioned once. Last week, I asked the question if it was okay to have fun in church. Happiness is generally a byproduct of having fun, but we know that happiness is fickle and can ebb and flow. However, as followers of Jesus Christ, joy should be a defining characteristic. We are called to “count it all joy when we experience trials of many kinds.” Thinking about facing trials and difficulties does not bring me joy, but our joy is found in the Lord and not our circumstances. Paul was sitting in prison, and he said in Philippians 4:4 to “Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice!” If he can rejoice in a prison cell, we can rejoice in our circumstances as well.

            Joy is part of the Fruit of the Spirit, so joy should be something that people see in your life regularly. Joy should be produced because of our new life in Jesus Christ. Our salvation should bring us a joy that others notice. If we do not produce the Fruit of the Spirit, we are told that we will be cut off and thrown into the fire, but if we do produce the Fruit of the Spirit, we will be pruned to produce more fruit. Our joy is made complete in our salvation, and our joy is sustained by that same salvation. Joy is something that we need to remind ourselves of frequently so the joy of our salvation shines through in our lives.

            The joy of the Lord should very present among fellow believers when we gather at church as well. When we gather, it is a time to rejoice and to continue rejoicing. There should be joy in greeting each other, in worshipping together, in praying together, in fellowshipping together, and in learning together. Actually, there should not be much that happens in church that is not joyful. I was recently in worship and a song we were singing did not sound like we were full of joy as we sang. It was not gloomy or anything like that, but the sense of joy should have been more evident. I praise God for the opportunity to sing to our Lord and Savior, and we cannot help but be filled with joy. King David danced with joy before the Lord. He also lamented his sin before the Lord and in Psalm 51, he asked God to “restore the joy” of the salvation that the Lord brought him. I want to challenge you to be filled with joy on a regular basis, but especially when we gather with the saints in His church. Joy must be who we are and why we are. Joy must flow from our salvation as a fruit that the world can see. Joy must be evident throughout our lives.

Galatians 5:22-23

             But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.