On Joy

When I was a teen I went to a new church. To be honest it was more to meet girls than to seek God. My first time I learned that the preacher had eight daughters. Three were in my Sunday school class. Faith introduced herself and smiled. Then Hope told me her name and smiled. Lastly, the gorgeous redhead said "I'm Joy." I responded "I bet!", and I smiled!

She was a really nice Christian girl and I embarrassed her. We became close friends, but not even close to being romantic. I had trouble with Joy. She just wasn't for me.

I still have trouble with joy. As a Christian it seems that I would be "just full of joy", but I'm not! Why? Because I'm imperfect and I'm not happy about that. And because of my imperfections people aren't happy with me. It's as if I'm the only Christian who sins, and because others are so perfect (sic), I find myself constantly flogging my own spiritual condition. I recently had the church pray that I would have joy return to my life. No, I don't deserve it because I know my own mind. Paul described well what I know is true in my own life:

Romans 7:17 " Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. ¹⁹ For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

Without making any excuses, this is my spiritual condition! However, Paul reasoned that as a Christian, it's not truly him who sins, but it's a sinful nature. The flesh, being his human nature, continually desires to sin because "the flesh" always desires to please itself.

Paul wants to do "good", but he's too weak to do so. "The flesh" has other ideas. The desire is to do good, but the flesh does evil.  Although Paul is a Christian, he is still a sinful man! Is he a hypocrite? No, because he admits his imperfections! How can a Christian have evil and good at the same time?

"The flesh" is the physical body which all humans have. The flesh is born with a "self-satisfaction" desire thanks to us being Adam's seed:

Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

Because everyone sins, evil resides in everyone (except the self-righteous: LOL). Sin is defined differently by many. However there are sins of commission (things we do), sins of omission (obligations we ignore) and accidental sins (consequences because we fail listen to God's precise instructions). My definition of sin is: "Thoughts, behaviors and attitudes which elevate the self as they minimize God's will." This is based on scripture:

Genesis 3:22 "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil..."

Adam and Eve wanted to be on the same latitude as God. Whereas, before they just lived in peace with God and in full communion, they exposed themselves to "knowing". Now they knew! And now they did things they shouldn't have! Before they were merely naked. It was natural. Their bodies were mere reproductive "tools". Their bodies were for procreation as they multiplied. Now because they knew sin, their flesh was for sexual pleasure and there was shame because they were out of God's will. "Knowing" is an awful thing when a person knows evil!

Because Adam and Eve ate of the tree whose fruit was pleasurable, sin became all about pleasuring the flesh, and the flesh became "the other god besides God". Because Adam and Eve were ashamed and KNEW they were guilty. God covered "the flesh" as signified by their genitals, with animal skins. Blood was shed to atone for their sin. Salvation is always by the blood!

Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

 Since they were sorry for their disobedience, God covered their shame by providing a blood sacrifice. An innocent animal gave their life to redeem Adam and Eve. They were saved by the blood.  Jesus was there doing the redemption because Jesus is the Word and the Word was made flesh. It was by their faith in The Word, God, which pardoned their sin.

I have just described my idol. It's my flesh and how I please my flesh is through pleasure. However, because I'm a Christian my flesh can never be truly satisfied. Just like Adam and Eve, guilt interferes with my idol having true happiness and joy. My body is the flesh, but inside that flesh is a soul. While the body is the cup for my flesh, the soul is the cup for my spirit. Because I'm a Christian my soul is filled with the Holy Spirit. My soul is "The Holy of Holies" and corruptness can never be in there unless I willingly empty it. Outside the Holy of Holies, there are impurities. The imperfect priest is out there and so am I. The tent outside the Holy of Holies is my body. My flesh is just outside. I present myself to The Priest to cut off my flesh; topple my idol, as a sacrifice to God:

Let's take a short look at "who we are"! Remember our make-up determines who our God is and joy is a result of choosing the right God.

Figure #1: Us: Our Spiritual Sytsem

Please study Figure #1: Us: Our Spiritual System. I show "us" humans on the left side of the balance beam. On the right side of the fulcrum is God. The only way to see God is to look at him in his flesh. Jesus is filled with the Holy Ghost and as such "The Trinity" is alive and well in him. When we look at Jesus we see God, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I have placed "us" and God on the fulcrum because "we" choose either "The One True God" or "Other God", which is of course "besides him".  Most men, even atheists, do not totally reject God because if an atheist doesn't believe, how can he reject? What they do is the same as everybody else; they worship other gods besides God. Their idol is their "self".

I show the teeter board as level. That means it's shown in a steady state balanced position. It's where the individual values God, but values him or herself equally. Those with just a little faith may have trouble trusting God. Hence, they are valuing their own self on an equal basis as they do God. The "scales" show in Figure #1 is a measurement of faith. Consider the "cloud" symbol. It can move toward Jesus or toward "self". As it moves the teeter board tips one way or the other. The intent is to have enough faith to balance the beam toward God. Envision the "cloud" moving right. That indicates greater faith and those with more faith place more trust in Jesus. When faith moves rightward, it's a sacrifice of the self. This is "the living sacrifice" we are to offer God. We trade trust in our "self" with trust in God!

The "cloud" (soul) can't move rightward because it's constrained by the body. The Christian must move "the flesh" and "mind" toward God in unison because they are one! Paul had trouble bringing the flesh and mind into righteousness and so do I... and you do too!

It takes just a little faith to become a Christian. However, as faith moves more rightward, the person becomes more righteous. Righteousness is becoming more Christlike by taking the emphasis off the self with it's flesh and more on God whose Spirit is greater! With just a little faith, the teeter totters toward Jesus and the idol topples. The "self" falls off its pedestal.

There is one who tries to put his foot on the scale. That's Satan. He is shown as the star because his symbol is the pentagram. He is the evil influence on us. I show a gray squiggly arrow going from Satan to our soul. If the soul is not filled with the Holy Ghost (you're not saved), then your empty cup is filled most of the way with evil (from Satan). I say "most of the way" because although the non-Christian is guilty of all types of sin, God in his wisdom, left just a little emptiness so that the Holy Spirit can call us. That partial emptiness is where yearning for hope is. We all long for a god and the best one to yearn for is Jehovah.

Many people, however, because of this emptiness, yearn for a god and receive a false god. With a false god, there is no true joy. Hence, the first step toward being joyous is recognizing that you must have hope and only God can provide hope. That emptiness must be answered and the best answer is to allow God to make evil flee from the soul and the deception of Satan be replaced by truth. As a new creature, the vacating of sin and the entry of the Holy Ghost, you are a new person. Hence, you're "born again"! That is a joyous occasion. More joyous than your first birth!

The circle on the left is you. It's your existence. Within "you" are the previously discussed soul, plus your mind and your body. Your mind is the processor, referee and manager of all your systems. It communicates with your body and your soul. The mind makes decisions. It has the capacity to choose evil or goodness. It hosts a person's will, and thanks to God, the will is free to choose eternal life or eternal death. Satan's job is to trick you in choosing wrongly and God's will is that you choose him. It's Jesus which must be accepted for salvation, but Satan cares little who you choose just so it's not Jesus. Regardless of your choice, the god of self is of utmost importance. Jesus even allows you to protect that god from suffering by offering everyone salvation!

Your entire system is covered with flesh. It's "the flesh" which demands your attention. It wants to be pleasured. Rather than "tending God's garden" those who worship the 'self" tend their own. They paint it up, deck it with jewels, ink it, cut it, pierce it, dress it in the finest clothes and show it off! They fornicate it, tease with it, stroke it and stuff it with Epicurean delights. Some worship their god by making it beautiful, but others fatten it up and make it less appealing. Both types wish to appease their selfish god!

Some even keep their god "high", get it drunk and drive out the Holy Spirit with smoke. Most of all, people put their god on a pedestal and worship it!

Satan provides pleasure, often immediately, and deceives people into accepting that pleasure. He tricks them through false knowledge and lack of wisdom. Although people think they are as smart as God, that's Satan's trick.  One trick used by Satan is false guilt. His M.O. is to trick you into not feeling guilty because you sin. "Everyone does it!" He says, and "Nobody will know!" It's just a natural function of your body, so that guilt you're feeling is from religious people who represses you!" People who fall for those lies begin to feel that their life is being wasted on stoicism. They feel guilty because they are not enjoying sin! Evil is the product of Satan. Evil is anything against God's will.

"The flesh" is the part of your god which is pleasured. When it sins, it tells the mind that "this is enjoyable" and the mind has satisfaction because the flesh is pleasured. Satan says "Go ahead and enjoy! Eat of any fruit you wish! There will be no death."

The Holy Spirit is an aspect of God which calls us to repentance and helps us be righteous. It squeezes out the evil in the soul, and the Holy Spirit lives there instead. You don't have to face temptation from Satan as he encourages evil; the Holy Spirit is there to help you out. He reminds you that Jesus died for you and that Jesus must be obeyed and loved. When you sin, the Holy Spirit is what makes your conscience sear. He convicts you of your sin. In response, you feel guilt. That's a check valve from God to help you be righteous. The conscience is the unseen faculty where guilt arises.  (Not shown on the chart).

The Holy Spirit tells you what's right. It's essential that every Christian read the instruction manual for his or her spiritual system. The best guide to operating this body is in the Bible. It's the Word of God and that's how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. A proper operating system will experience joy. That's elation when we're right with God, our guilt machine is idle and that Satan has fled! We live at peace with others because God has transmitted peace to us!

We can move toward joy by shifting our weight toward the fulcrum. We let Jesus be our example and get closer to him. We don't get "more saved" by shifting our weight. We just get more joy when we move closer to Jesus because we minimize the worship of our 'self", and our "other god" is put in storage, hopefully for disposal. The shifting of our system toward Jesus is our sacrifice to God:

Romans 12:1 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."

Our "body" is our little "other god". We present a live sacrifice to Jesus by scooting closer to him. We shift our faith along the scale as far as it can go! Abraham had great faith! We show our faith through obedience. We'll never be prefect, but God gives grace (credit) for effort because the effort is how we show our love for him! 

Just as Adam and Eve's flesh was "cut-off" by the shed blood of animals (the skins which covered their flesh), our own flesh is cut-off by the blood of Jesus. In both cases it was God who covered the sins of Adam and our own!

Obedience is how we move rightward and tip the scales toward Jesus:

Romans 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

Adam is what made us the "other god". He sought to be as God. Hence, pretending to God's role was original sin. Because Adam was a pretender to God's throne, we are too. Our god of "self" wants to reign in God's place. That's "the flesh" we struggle with. Our idol is us and it is appeased by fleshly pleasure.

Jesus came to die for us. That's why God conceived him! Jesus, although he felt the desires of "the flesh", had "the faith of God". In spite of Satan Jesus moved toward God's will. He obeyed and suffered death for it! We are to be as close to the example Jesus set and move that body and faith toward righteousness. That's where hope lies and hope begets joy! Now you know!