"God wants to bestow true joy on all who believe in Jesus."

A thought by Daniel Fusco, from his book, Crazy Happy (p. 58). The Crown Publishing Group, Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)

Yes He does.

Daniel says, "This is a deep-flowing joy, based in a reality beyond any circumstances we find ourselves in. Let that marinate for a second! We can have an inner state that is incredibly, joyfully out of keeping with even the most difficult situations we face. This isn’t denying trouble in our lives; it’s triumphing over it."

He continues, "I want to share with you a great definition of joy I learned from an amazing theology teacher called the Sunday school classroom. Many of our kids know this definition, but so often we forget it as adults.

"Joy can be broken down into three parts: Jesus, Others, and Yourself."

He goes on, "This shows us the order that leads to real joy. And it’s as crazy as all these countercultural ways that God loves to work in us. With that definition in place, right away we see the problem with pursuing happiness any way other than how Jesus invites us to. Our culture uses the exact opposite order for joy. Our world says it’s you, then others, then Jesus (or religion), right? Our culture says, 'You do you,' and that you should then make room for others if (and that’s a big 'if') you have anything left.

"Except, guess what? When you do you and you come first, you hardly ever have meaningful room in your life for anybody else."

He later says, "When we understand the brokenness of the world and our own spiritual bankruptcy and we mourn and Jesus comforts us, we decide to roll with Jesus. And then Jesus teaches us that if we want to love him, we can do so by loving other people. And that means that our own self-styled, self-centered interests usually come in last place. But in return we receive God's infinite joy."

And that is the best we can have, isn't it?

Yes, yes!

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