There is a kind of joy that is more than a good feeling based on good things happening to us. Happiness can slip away with the next unpleasant circumstance. The joy that comes from following Jesus can thrive despite those circumstances. Keep your joy!
Community, the word “keep” means “to have or retain possession of.” It’s like a keepsake. This is more of a charge than a message. God wants his children to hold on to their joy. You had better not let go of it. This is your stronghold for 2025. The world doesn’t want us to have it and the devil wants to steal it because even he knows that he cannot do a thing with a Christian that has or retains their joy (John 10:10-29).
It’s like a robber. He will not show up when you are at home, and especially a home with a man in it who has a gun and knows how to use it. But, if he can disarm the man, take away his gun, then he can have free course to invade the home and do whatever he wants to do unrestrained. That’s us; Satan can’t take our joy away, but if we don’t hold on to it, it works to his advantage. Joy is the one fruit of the spirit that is our strength (Galatians 5:22). Our power to go on is in our joy. This joy grows out of doing God’s will.
And what is God’s will? To seek and save that which was lost (Luke 19:10). It’s living a holy life (1 Peter 1:15-17); it’s loving our brothers and sisters in Christ (John 13:34); it’s getting along with fellow believers; it’s controlling our temper (1 Corinthians 9:25), and being kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32); it’s doing those things that are pleasing in his sight (1 John 3:22); it is doing unto others, as you will have others do unto us (Matthew 7:12); it’s walking in the newness of life (Romans 6:40), leaving the old life behind; it’s staying in the word; it’s developing a prayer life; it’s walking in the spirit and keep letting the Holy Spirit fill us (Ephesians 518); it’s resisting the devil; and the Bible says that if we resist him, he will flee from us (James 4:7).
If we do these things I promise you that you will have joy.
Now ask ourselves this question, “Do I have joy in 2025?”
Let’s not lose our joy over temporary stuff and circumstances. Friends, this is a choice. It is all about choices. Like anything, we have to choose to do it. Watch this…We can choose to be mad, or we can choose to be glad. We choose who we marry; thank God!
We choose our friends; we choose our careers; we choose what church we affiliate with; we choose to hold things against other people, which is not Christian; we can choose through prayer to just let it go; we choose whether to get an education or not; we choose what vehicle we want to buy, what house we want to buy and what to eat and when to eat it. We choose our restaurant and scan the menu and we choose our meal.
In church, we choose to worship or not to worship; we choose whether we will accept the Lord Jesus into our lives as our personal savior or we choose to leave him out of our lives and we will surely perish; we choose to tell the truth, or we choose to tell a lie. So it is about keeping our joy. We can choose to let nothing or nobody steal our joy. It’s all about a choice.
Notice that when you have joy it affects everything in you and around you? Joy is infectious and contagious. When you have joy it rubs off on other people.
Why don’t we choose to have it? Circumstances can put us in a dark place, but joy can bring us out of it. That’s why Jesus wants us to have it (John 16:20,22). No one can take away a joy that is rooted in Christ.
So community family, don’t let anything in this life steal your joy — not family, not circumstances. Saints, if Jesus could speak to us today, he would tell us that we will have some good days in 2025. We will have some bad days. We will weep in a fallen world. Hurricane Helene, fires of California — If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. Things are going to happen. Death will surely come; pain will be a part of our journey.
Listen, we will fall, make some mistakes, and be constantly attacked by the devil and his demonic forces. Even while the world is having a good time keep your joy! They have the best clothes, they have the money, they have the best cars, nice homes, best jewelry, best jobs, go to the finest schools, wear the most expensive clothes, eat caviar, drink imported wine, they take cruises on the Carnival and lay up on the beach at the Sands Resorts or in Mexico. But one thing that the world does not have, is JOY!
The world may have happiness at moments because happiness depends on happenings. They are happy when things are going well, but when things take a turn for the worse their happiness is gone. They get depressed, suicidal, and need therapy but our joy remains because our joy depends on Jesus! He never changes (Hebrews 13:8)! Community, whatever we face, keep your joy in 2025.
The Rev. George Ellis is the pastor of Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church and can be reached at georgeellis1956@yahoo.com.