Don’t Leave Your Joy Outside the Door

“They’re happy, right Mama?” My little girl asks me for the tenth time while watching a princess movie. As in every fairytale, there is always a part of the story where the main characters face challenges or opposition. In those moments, she looked to me for affirmation that everything would turn out okay. Fortunately, we’ve heard enough fairytales to know that they end in Happily Ever After. I am amazed at this innate desire in my daughter’s mind for things to work out well for the characters she loves. I didn’t teach her that; it exists in her little heart and brain. 

We can have that same desire, can’t we? Whether it is intentional or subconscious, we often desire our own happy endings. We want things to work out for good for ourselves and those we love. When things don’t go how we expected, we can quickly feel disappointed and let down. 

We kick off the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday, a time for solemn reflection and receiving ashes. It is a time when we slow down and intentionally sit and remember our humanity, our frailty, and, ultimately, our need for a savior. Lent is an invitation to repentance and to re-align ourselves with God. The season of Lent is not always a season of joy, and we can often dissect joy from this time of reflection. We think that joy can’t coexist with sadness or confession.

Our problem is that our joy is most often tied to our circumstances. What is happening in front of us and around us regularly dictates our experience of joy. Just like my daughter, we long for the happy ending and fret when things aren’t going our way or when we can’t get past our repeated sin struggles. 

Jesus wants to free us from that roller coaster of ups and downs and give us lasting joy found only in Him. When Jesus talks about giving us lasting joy (John 16), He doesn’t speak as someone who had a life full of rainbows, unicorns, and ice cream. When Jesus talks about joy, we can be confident that He understood trouble, struggle, and pain, but “for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). The season of Lent culminates in the celebration of Holy Week and Easter Sunday. This is perhaps where we get the best picture of how joy and sorrow coexist. 

The crucifixion gives us a picture of what joy in Jesus looks like. I don’t imagine Jesus smiling when He journeyed up that hill to His death, but I know He had joy. When Jesus went to the cross, He suffered great pain. Because joy is a part of His character and very nature, trying circumstances would not have stripped joy from Him at that moment. It would have been refined, actualized, and realized during intense trials. He gives meaning to the words James penned: 

“Count it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” – James 1:2–3 (NIV)

Jesus’s work on the cross is the ultimate example of this scripture lived out. Again and again, Pilate deemed Him innocent, but He kept his mouth shut and, like a sheep, was led to the slaughter. He knew why He came and stayed focused on that purpose. Despite the suffering He endured, His joy remained constant.

Joy doesn’t disappear when times get tough. Jesus had joy amid great suffering because He had hope. He told the robber next to Him who asked for forgiveness, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Jesus was sure of His hope. He knew where He was going, allowing Him joy, even in the most brutal circumstances.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God works in our lives the same way. If we allow it, our joy deepens in our sadness, hurt, and pain.  We draw closer to Him, and in His presence is the fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11). We also know that as followers of Jesus, we get the happy ending!! That’s what we get to celebrate on Easter. Jesus is victorious over death and grave and He will come back in final victory in the time to come. For now, we live in the in-between—in the assurance of His victory, but the fullness not quite realized. That’s the purpose of Lent—to remind us of our humanity and our need for God. This season of Lent, let confession and repentance mingle with joy.  As we enter this time of reflection, let’s not leave our joy outside the door.